SAO PAULO, Jan 30
Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said on Monday that the central bank’s new head of monetary policy could come from the private sector, a highly watched position that should mark the relationship of the president with those responsible for the entity.
Speaking to reporters after attending an event organized by Brazil’s largest industrial association Fiesp, Haddad said the issue was discussed with central bank governor Roberto Campos Neto in a morning meeting.
“If you want good technical names, you have few places to look, so it can be from the private sector, it can be from the public sector,” Haddad said.
Bruno Serra’s term in charge of monetary policy expires next month. His area is considered one of the most critical, as it provides essential data for monetary policy decisions and is responsible for the foreign exchange and interest rate desks.
Under a formal autonomy approved by Congress in 2021, Campos Neto will remain in office until December 2024. The terms of his current directors will expire in different terms until 2025, and it will be up to leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to appoint all of them. the members of the bank’s board, made up of nine members.
Haddad said that he had promised Campos Neto to unload all paralyzed credit initiatives from the Central Bank, without elaborating.
He also cited eight bills that are already in Congress “ready to go,” including one that modernizes bank credit guarantees and is due to be voted on shortly in the Senate.
The minister, who insisted on the importance of consumer credit as a catalyst for economic activity, predicted that the popular Pix instant payment system will become a credit instrument this year.
He was also in favor of a differentiated treatment to encourage companies and guarantee the entry of new players in the credit market. (Reporting by Marcela Ayres in Brasilia and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Edited in Spanish by Juana Casas)