He Central Bank of Brazil approved this Wednesday an increase in the basic interest rate in the country of one percentage pointuntil the 12.25% annuallyin the midst of a rebound in inflation and the doubts about the fiscal scenario.
The organization announced that, faced with an inflationary scenario “most adverse”, foresees increases of the same magnitude in the next two meetingswhich will be held in January and March of next year, which would leave the rate at 14,25 %.
The decision surprised the financial marketwhich expected an increase of 0.75 percentage points, according to the forecasts of specialized agencies.
It is about the third consecutive increase of the interest rate approved by the Central Bank: in September the rate rose 0.25 points and in November, 0.5 points more.
The institution explained in a statement that the challenges in the external environment, mainly the current economic situation in the United States, demand “caution” by emerging countries.
He also placed emphasis on the domestic setting and the “dynamism” of the indicators of economic activity and the labor market, in addition to the inflationtoday in the 4.87% interannual, above the target ceiling for this year (4.50%).
Furthermore, he highlighted that “the perception of economic agents regarding the recent announcement” of fiscal adjustment proposed by the Brazilian Government, in which, in addition to a package of cuts, it promoted a tax exemption for low incomes,significantly affected expectations”.
This week, it became known that Interannual inflation in Brazil increased to 4.87% in November, which is above the institution’s goalwhich is 3% with a margin of 1.5 points.
The Central Bank stressed its “firm commitment” to bringing inflation to the goals through a restrictive monetary policy, which has been highly criticized by the Government, which has accused the issuing body of hindering the country’s growth with interest rates. such high interest.
(With information from EFE)
