Politics · Brazil · 7 hrs ago
Lula allies press Brazil’s central bank to cut 13.75% Selic rate
Lula’s allies are pressing Brazil’s central bank to cut interest rates before its policy meeting this week.
The Selic rate is currently 13.75% a year, and the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will decide whether to change it.
After Lula won the presidential election, some investors became less certain that rates would fall, citing concerns about the government’s public finances.
Lawmakers Lindbergh Farias, Gleisi Hoffmann and Zeca Dirceu criticized financial markets and called for lower rates, while Dirceu said the burden should not fall on people most in need.
Economist André Lara Resende has proposed gradually lowering the rate to about 7.5% over roughly 12 months and creating a fiscal and monetary council.
Finance Minister Dario Durigan denied plans to set interest rates by decree and denied meeting Resende.
The committee’s decision this week will set the next Selic rate, but the account does not say what it will decide.
Allies of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are pressing Brazil’s central bank to cut the Selic rate, now at 13.75% a year, ahead of a monetary policy meeting this week.
Government lawmakers criticized financial markets after analysts revised their expectations for a rate cut following Lula’s election victory.
The market reassessment was linked to uncertainty about the country’s fiscal outlook under Lula’s new term.
Economist André Lara Resende proposed gradually lowering the rate to about 7.5% over roughly 12 months.
Finance Minister Dario Durigan denied plans to set interest rates and denied meeting with Resende.
- Who
- Allies of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, including lawmakers Lindbergh Farias, Gleisi Hoffmann and Zeca Dirceu, are pressing the central bank.
- What
- They are urging a reduction in the Selic rate, currently 13.75% a year.
- When
- Ahead of a Copom meeting scheduled for this week; the article was published on November 2, 2026.
- Where
- Brazil.
- Why
- The allies say rates should fall; analysts have reconsidered the prospect of a cut amid fiscal uncertainty after Lula’s election victory.
Lula government allies
Financial market analysts
Rate outlook
Lula government allies
Allies are pressing for a reduction in the Selic rate.
Financial market analysts
Analysts revised their expectations for a cut after Lula’s election victory.
Reason for change
Lula government allies
Lindbergh Farias said the rate should not be decided by the financial market’s mood.
Financial market analysts
The article says analysts’ reassessment reflected uncertainty about the fiscal outlook under Lula’s new term.
André Lara Resende published an article criticizing the central bank’s monetary policy.
Former chief of staff Rui Costa criticized what he described as speculation and the pursuit of extraordinary gains in the financial sector in an interview with Metrópoles.
Lara Resende’s article came into focus.
Government allies publicly criticized the financial market and pressed for lower interest rates ahead of the Copom meeting scheduled for that week.
- Selic rate
- 13.75% a year
- Proposed rate target
- About 7.5% a year, reached gradually over roughly 12 months
- Copom meeting
- Scheduled for the week of November 2, 2026
- Lindbergh Farias
- Federal deputy for the Workers’ Party (PT) in Rio de Janeiro
- Gleisi Hoffmann
- Federal deputy for the PT in Paraná
1 source
What people are saying
They are playing politics and sabotaging our economy
This financial market has the DNA of authoritarianism.
Interest rates have to come down, but it cannot be by force.
Not stated