The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said that the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom), released today (7), were better than the statement and were friendlier.
“Today came the Copom minutes. The minutes came out better than the communiqué, longer, more analytical, making points about the work of the Ministry of Finance. It is a more friendly act in relation to the next steps that need to be taken”, said the minister upon arriving at the Ministry of Finance, this Tuesday.
Yesterday (6), the minister criticized the statement from the Central Bank (BC), after the meeting that maintained the Selic rate (basic interest of the economy) at 13.75% per year. He said that BC could have been more generous with the current government.
After last week’s meeting, the Copom issued a statement in which it stated that the increase in fiscal uncertainties could make the Central Bank keep interest rates high for longer than initially expected. The monetary authority did not rule out the possibility of raising the Selic rate again if inflation does not converge to the target by mid-2024.
This Tuesday, Haddad also defended greater coordination between fiscal policy and the so-called monetary policy, in charge of the Central Bank, to contain inflation.
“Coordination has two hands. It’s not from here to there, it’s from here to there and from there to here. What I have always advocated since my first interview is the harmonization of monetary policy and fiscal policy. The idea is that they are arms of the same organism and that they have to work together”, he said.
The minister said that the government is carrying out a reform in the Revenue to give more legal security to defaulting companies. The objective is that they can better negotiate the payment of debts with the tax authorities.
“We are carrying out reforms that will provide more legal security for companies. They will be able to negotiate better. We will be able to undo mistaken notices of infractions and, at the same time, offer better conditions for the defaulting taxpayer to keep their accounts up to date with the Federal Revenue Service”, he said.
“We are going to have a robust tax base that allows the state, with a moderate size, to meet the constitutional rights foreseen for all citizens”, he added.
According to the minister, the government has also been doing its “homework” to cut costs. “We’re doing our homework, we’re improving the issue of revenue on both sides: the taxpayer, who will be better treated; pending issues, which will have an equation; and also in the expense, ”he said.
Haddad also said that the new fiscal framework should come out in April and that he will present, later this month, a reform to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to improve credit instruments in the country.
