BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s executive secretary of the Finance Ministry, Gabriel Galipolo – who is due to be nominated for a key role at the country’s central bank – said on Tuesday he has good relations with central bank Governor Roberto Campos Neto but does not always agree with him.
Speaking to reporters, Galipolo also said everyone wants interest rates to be reduced.
“I am convinced that the entire board of the central bank has no satisfaction whatsoever, neither professional nor personal, in having higher interest rates,” he added.
In a later interview to CNN Brasil, Galipolo drew attention to the improvement in market prices in response to fiscal efforts already made by the new government.
“The exchange rate has improved, the real has appreciated, long interest rates have been systematically falling, so all of this provides an easier scenario for the central bank to analyze expectations and analyze market prices, and to inaugurate a cycle of rate cuts,” he said.
Asked about changes in the inflation target, he said that all the debate he witnessed in the government on the subject was never done “to have some kind of specific objective in interest rates,” but rather aimed at modernizing the inflation target framework by examining global practices.
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad revealed on Monday that Galipolo, the former CEO of investment bank Banco Fator, would be nominated by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as the central bank director of monetary policy.
Galipolo argued that it is expected that nominees to the central bank have some affinity with the current government, but also stated that he has a “cordial dialogue” with the bank.
If approved by the Brazilian Senate, Galipolo will be responsible for interest and exchange rate instruments at the central bank, in addition to providing technical orientation on the management of the country’s international reserves.
(Reporting by Victor Borges; Editing by Leslie Adler, Sandra Maler and Andrea Ricci)
