'Incomprehensible', says Gleisi about Copom's decision to raise the Selic rate to 15%

Minister Gleisi Hoffmann , from the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, said she did not understand what motivated the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of the Central Bank to raise the Selic rate to 15% per year . The decision was made official late in the afternoon of Wednesday the 17th.

For the minister responsible for the political articulation of the Lula government (PT), however, the Central Bank made a mistake in taking the decision to raise the basic interest rate by 0.25%.

“At a time when the country is combining slowing inflation and a zero primary deficit, economic growth and international investments that reflect confidence, it is incomprehensible that Copom would further increase the basic interest rate,” Gleisi posted on a social network on the morning of Thursday the 18th.

This time, Gleisi again chose not to mention Gabriel Galípolo , an economist appointed by Lula to replace Roberto Campos Neto as president of the Central Bank.

“Brazil hopes that this will indeed be the end of the cycle of stratospheric interest rates,” concluded the minister, referring to the Copom statement after the meeting. According to the note, if the expected scenario is confirmed, the trend is to interrupt the cycle of increases at the next meeting, scheduled for the end of July.

The same statement, however, leaves open the possibility of a new increase by saying that it “will not hesitate to continue the adjustment cycle if it deems it appropriate”.

The current Selic rate, at 15% per year, is the highest since July 2006 and the second highest real rate in the world, behind only Turkey, according to a survey by consultancies MoneYou and Lev Intelligence.

The decision to adopt this level for the rate was taken unanimously by the Committee chaired by Galípolo . This is the fourth time that the economist has led the meeting.