How long will Brazil endure Campos Neto's whip?

The country watched this Wednesday (22) as the Central Bank defied the Lula government, the productive sector, economic agents and the population and maintained the basic interest rate (Selic) at 13,75%, a second largest in the worldThe decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom), under the leadership of Bolsonaro supporter Roberto Campos Neto, is a frontal attack on the attempt to resume the country's economic growth, which was devastated by the 2016 coup and the governments of Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro.  

Roberto Campos Neto uses the justification that it is necessary to control inflation, currently at 5,63% over the past 12 months, to act politically against the Lula government, rebelling against the sovereign decision of the Brazilian population at the polls that defeated this economic policy focused on rent-seeking. He even challenged the government by stating that he has not ruled out raising the basic interest rate.

Besides the government, Campos Neto also sabotages those who want to produce in Brazil. Because this level of interest rates makes credit more expensive and reduces the supply of money for productive activity, making the profitability of financial investments, such as government bonds, much more advantageous than investing in an economic activity that generates jobs. Professor Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University (USA) and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics described the interest rate in Brazil as a... "death penalty" for the economy.

The economic slowdown in 2022, with a 0,2% contraction in GDP in the last quarter, confirms that interest rates at this level are excessive and prohibitive to the country's growth. And this will continue to be an obstacle to economic activity in 2023. The Central Bank's own forecast, through the Focus Bulletin, is for GDP growth of only 0,88% in the first year of Lula's government. 

Seated on the throne of the "independent" Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto keeps the government, businesses, and the population suffocating, breathing with the help of machines under the usury of the financial market with this interest rate at 13,75%. Meanwhile, the Federal Senate, which has the prerogative to remove Jair Bolsonaro's nominee from office, has so far only observed the tragedy unfold.