Brazil’s two biggest labor unions in a note signed by their presidents, have criticized the decision by Brazil’s Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) to leave the country’s basic interest rate (Selic) at 19.75% per year.
The unions are CUT (Central íšnica dos Trabalhadores – Unified Workers’s Central) and Força Sindical (Union Force) and their heads are Luiz Marinho and Paulo Pereira da Silva, respectively.
According to CUT, the only thing worse than leaving the interest rate where it is would be raising it.
“Brazil needs a positive agenda. Lower interest rates would be something in that direction. We demand a change in economic policy that would begin with lower interest rates, followed by more realistic inflation and primary surplus targets.
“The country needs more investments in social programs, infrastructure; production needs a boost,” said the CUT note.
“And this decision has an aggravating aspect: it occurs at a moment of political turbulence. This is an opportune moment for us to express our strong opposition to corruption. We insist on the guilty being punished,” said the note in reference to the corruption scandal involving civil servants, the PT and congressmen.
Meanwhile, the Força Sindical, in its own note, called the Copom decision “highly harmful to the country.”
And continues: “This measure shows clearly that the government’s economic team, consisting of insensitive technocrats, continues to favor speculators, leaving production and the creation of jobs in a distant second place.”
ABr