Maintaining the Selic Rate – basic interest rate of the economy – at 15% per year received criticism from the production sector. Although the decision was widely expected by the market, business entities and trade unions see the Central Bank’s (BC) stance as an obstacle to economic growth in a scenario of falling inflation, economic slowdown and loss of steam in the job market.
CNI: decision ignores slowdown
In a note, the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) assessed that the BC ignored “robust evidence” that the economy would already allow the start of a cycle of reducing the Selic. The entity’s president, Ricardo Alban, stated that maintaining interest rates “is excessive and harmful”, intensifying the loss of pace in activity, making credit more expensive and inhibiting investments. For him, there is room for a gradual adjustment without compromising the convergence of inflation to the target.
Business
The chief economist of the Associação Paulista de Supermercados (Apas), Felipe Queiroz, considered that the BC maintains a policy disconnected from the national and international situation. He recalled that countries like the United States started cuts while Brazil maintains one of the highest real rates in the world. According to Queiroz, the current stance “harms investments, consumption and worsens structural obstacles”, in addition to making it difficult to conduct fiscal policy.
In a more moderate tone, the São Paulo Commercial Association (ACSP) assessed that maintenance was expected and reflects a still delicate environment. For economist Ulisses Ruiz de Gamboa, inflation and expectations remain above target, and the context includes fiscal expansion, labor market resilience and international uncertainties. He stated that the statement from the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) will be decisive in understanding the next steps.
trade union centers
In a statement, the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) classified the decision as a “non-compliance with the needs of the population and the productive sector”. The president of the National Confederation of Financial Workers of the CUT (Contraf-CUT) and vice-president of the CUT, Juvandia Moreira, said that the high Selic diverts resources from productive investment to “rent-seeking”. Economists linked to the center claim that inflation is under control and that monetary tightening is already causing a drop in consumption, a slowdown in GDP and a loss of dynamism in the job market.
Força Sindical strongly criticized the decision, classifying it as a “national shame”. For the entity’s president, Miguel Torres, the Copom favors speculators and strangles the economy by insisting on high interest rates. He states that the current policy harms salary campaigns, limits consumption and imposes obstacles to development. “We are living in the era of extortionate interest rates,” he said in a statement.
