Lula criticizes Campos Neto again over interest rates: "Who is this man serving?"

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247 – President Lula (PT) once again harshly criticized the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, on Thursday (June 29) during an interview with Rádio Gaúcha. He claimed that the head of the Central Bank "doesn't understand anything about the country" and only favors the financial market by keeping the basic interest rate, Selic, at 13.75% per year.

"The Senate bears responsibility because it was the Senate that accepted the nomination of the former president and appointed the president of the Central Bank. When it was the president making the appointment, the president could remove or appoint. Fernando Henrique Cardoso removed two or three presidents. Now you have an individual who seems to understand absolutely nothing about the country, knows nothing about the people, lacks empathy for the people's suffering, and maintains an interest rate to cater to whose interests? Who is this man serving at the moment? That is the question. It's not about Lula, it's not about the president, it's about the Brazilian people, the unions, the industry, commerce, tourism, retail business owners, farmers across Brazil who are against the interest rate. So this individual will have to think, and the Senate will have to figure out how to deal with him," he declared.

The president reiterated that there is "no explanation" for the current level of interest rates in Brazil. "When the Senate approved the autonomy of the Central Bank, they established some criteria for the Central Bank's autonomy. One of them is to manage inflation, another is to take care of growth and employment. And so far, he has taken care of little, because he set a target that, due to his failure to achieve it, led to an exaggerated increase in interest rates. There is currently no economic, sociological, philosophical, or any other explanation for the interest rate to be at 13.75%, as we do not have demand inflation. Interest rates were increased when there was growing demand that needed to be reduced. Meirelles did that countless times."

"It's a mistake. There is no sector of the economy, except the financial sector, no sector of the economy, whether it's large, small, or medium-sized companies, small retailers, large retailers; in other words, everyone is against this absurd interest rate. No one can borrow money to invest at 14%, 15%, 16% interest. People will go bankrupt. So it's necessary to reduce the interest rate to make it compatible even with inflation. If inflation over 12 months is less than 5%, why should the interest rate be at this level? What's the explanation? It doesn't exist," he concluded.

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