Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said that Central Bank President Gabriel Galipolo is doing a good job heading the authority. This statement was made in an interview with CNN on Monday (10).
“I’m very close to Gallipolo, who was my executive secretary and my appointee to the central bank. I think he’s doing a good job in British Columbia, limiting a series of abuses in the financial system. I’m talking about fintech regulations and the change in mortgage credit,” the minister said.
Despite the praise, Haddad once again expressed his disagreement with the base interest rate, Selik, currently set at 15% annually, which he described as high. “Everyone knows my opinion. The interest rate has room for cuts.”
Haddad also reported that he met with Vibraban (Brazilian Banking Association) and said that his assessment of Selec was shared by part of the sector. “Some economic and political players agree with the hypothesis that perhaps the time has already come to start the cycle of cuts,” he said.
Haddad’s speech reflects increasing pressure from sectors of government on British Columbia to lower the price of silica. Last month, Corporate Relations Secretary Glycy Huffman went so far as to say that the current level of interest rates is “detached from the reality of the country.”
“Interest rates do not reflect the reality of the Brazilian economy and become an obstacle to growth,” says the minister.
Last Wednesday (5), the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee decided unanimously to fix the base interest rate at 15% annually for the third meeting in a row.
In response to a question about criticism of the country’s financial situation, Haddad said that the government should get closer to the fiscal target position for 2025, due to pooling – resources that are released to ministries, but end the year in cash.
The target this year is zero deficit, with a tolerance of 0.25% of GDP more or less, depending on the fiscal framework.
According to him, the financial situation is better than it was in the governments of Michel Temer (MDB) and Jair Bolsonaro (PL). “We are talking about balancing the public accounts and, ultimately, achieving a small surplus next year,” he said.
Haddad referred to the approval of the income tax project in the Senate, and described it as an “exceptional political achievement.” According to him, the punishment imposed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) should take place later this week, on Tuesday or Wednesday (11 or 12).
Haddad’s allies say Haddad should travel around Brazil to announce the approval of the project that gives income tax relief to those earning up to R$5,000 and defend the government’s tax justice agenda.
This project, an election promise of President Lula (PT), is considered one of the main bets of the Planalto Palace to strengthen the popularity of the PT member before the 2026 elections.
During the interview, Haddad also spoke about the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF). The Brazilian government expected a contribution from Germany to the fund during the 30th Conference of the Parties in Belém, but the European country did not announce the value.
German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz said that the contribution to the fund has already been determined with the Ministry of Economy, but the matter still needs to go through other internal government bodies.
According to Haddad, this is expected to be announced by the end of the year. He said he expects the Fund’s contributions to exceed US$10 billion during Brazil’s presidency of the Conference of the Parties, pointing to China, the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands as countries that have expressed their support for the Fund.
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