The Central Bank (BC) could have been more generous with the government in the communiqué issued by the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) after the meeting that maintained the Selic rate (basic interest rate for the economy) at 13.75% per year, said today (6). ) the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad. In an interview after a meeting with parliamentarians, he said that the current government inherited the public accounts in a complicated situation and that it has already announced a package to reduce the fiscal deficit.
“In 30 days of government, we are not going to resolve a liability of R$ 300 billion inherited from the previous government, but our commitment is to balance the accounts and I announced on January 12 that we are going to pursue better results. In this regard, I think that the Copom note could be more generous with the measures we have already taken. I understand that we are going to harmonize fiscal policy with monetary policy”, declared Haddad.
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.
Regarding the mention of existing “fiscal uncertainties”, which appeared in the Copom communiqué, the minister said he believed that the Central Bank spoke more about the previous government and recalled some measures taken since he took over the ministry. “On the first day of the government, we took measures revoking the irresponsibility of the last ten days of the previous government, which took five measures, exempting a series of sectors and harming the collection of the first year of the Lula government. There is a fiscal situation that inspires care, but this is an inheritance that we have to manage, ”he said.
Indications
The Minister of Finance also informed that the nominations for the two directorates of the BC that will remain vacant this year will obey technical criteria. He confirmed that he is receiving suggestions from the president of the BC, Roberto Campos Neto, which will be taken to president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“I have already spoken several times with the president of the Central Bank about technical names, as has always been our practice. Throughout the period that we were in charge of governments, we always indicated technical names to the BC directors who are able to fulfill the duties and competences of the position that will be held in the most appropriate way”, declared the minister.
Haddad explained that, according to the BC’s autonomy law, the appointment of directors is exclusively up to the President of the Republic. At the end of this month, the mandates of the directors of Monetary Policy, Bruno Serra, and of Inspection, Paulo Souza, will end.
Carf
In the late afternoon and early evening, Haddad met with the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, and with party leaders from the allied base to discuss the provisional measure that restores the government’s casting vote in the judgments of the Administrative Board of Tax Appeals (Carf) that result in a tie. The minister said he had explained to parliamentarians that the measure covers a small number of taxpayers and aims to bring fiscal justice that benefits the poorest taxpayers. An agency linked to the Federal Revenue Service, Carf judges, at the administrative level, debts with the Tax Authorities that have not yet gone to the judicial level.
“We are talking about 100, 200 taxpayers. We are not talking about Brazilian taxpayers. We are talking about very specific and controversial cases that end up causing damage to the treasury. I always made it clear, even for these taxpayers, who are large companies, that our objective is tax justice”, declared Haddad.
The minister also said he is working to prevent abuse by tax auditors as a way to reduce litigation at CARF and speed up trials. “I also committed to curbing any kind of abuse. Binding summary within the Federal Revenue Service. A pacified understanding between the auditors will have to be considered valid by each and every auditor so that there is no incidence of infraction notices that are not their own”, he added.
