Opinion on interest rate cuts is endorsed by banks, says Haddad

Finance Minister Fernando Haddad stated on Monday (10) that he disagrees with the current level of the basic interest rate and believes there is room for cuts, a position that, according to him, is shared by banks. ‘Everyone knows my opinion, which is also endorsed by the banks that met with me this morning: effectively, the interest rate has room for cuts. It’s not personal, it’s an institutional issue,’ said Haddad in an interview on the program Bastidores, from CNN Brasil. The minister emphasized that the country’s fiscal situation has been much more delicate in recent periods. ‘In the Temer and Bolsonaro governments, we had a deficit around 2% of GDP. Today we are talking about balance and, eventually, a surplus next year,’ he said. Haddad also mentioned ongoing measures to improve the balance of public accounts, such as the liquidation of the wage compensation variation fund, the full integration of Fundeb, and the normalization of the BPC curve (Continuous Provision Benefit), which, according to him, was affected by legal changes in 2021 and began to impact around R$40 billion annually. The minister added that the government is seeking new sources of funding to avoid discontinuation of social programs.