Haddad says the final vote on the framework in July is not a concern

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said, on Tuesday night (20), he was not concerned, as well as the government’s economic team, with the decision of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, to vote on the fiscal framework. for the second time in the House only in early july. The text remains in the Senate, but should be approved with changes, returning to the House. According to Lira, the new date should not interfere with the drafting of the 2024 Budget bill.

“This framework was supposed to go to Congress in August. We sent it in April, it’s practically approved. The first week of July is more than enough time to prepare the budget based on the new fiscal rule”, declared the minister.

For the Minister of Finance, negotiations on the new framework and the project that resumes the government’s tie-breaking vote in the Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (Carf) are advanced. According to Haddad, the tax reform, whose vote is also promised for the first week of July, should require more political articulation. “It will be a lot of work to negotiate (tax reform),” he said.

Haddad again emphasized the importance of approving the reform to unlock the country’s economy. “We are going to adopt a tax regime that is in effect in 150 countries and works better than our economy today,” he said. He sought to reassure sectors resistant to the reform, such as services and part of retail, saying that the Simples Nacional (a regime for micro and small companies) and that sectors such as health and education will have different treatment.

Interest rate

Haddad also confirmed the lunch he had with the president of the Central Bank (BC), Roberto Campos Neto, outside the official agenda. According to the minister, the meeting, which took place the day before, served to “exchange perceptions” during the week of the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) meeting.

“We sometimes have lunch together to discuss things, discuss the Brazilian economy, exchange information. And also exchange perceptions about how we can interact more”, said the minister after meeting with the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira.

The meeting took place on Monday (19) in a restaurant in Brasília and was not disclosed in the agenda. This Tuesday (20) and Wednesday (21), the Copom will meet to decide the Selic Rate (basic interest rates for the economy). According to the Focus bulletin, a weekly survey of financial institutions carried out by the BC, market analysts expect the Selic to remain at 13.75% per year and a possible reduction from August.

The minister reiterated statements in favor of “harmonization” between fiscal (public spending) and monetary (interest) policies. “He (Campos Neto) presents me arguments, I present arguments to him, in the sense of trying to converge. We have a personal and institutional relationship that requires periodic meetings that are done very naturally”, he declared.

According to Haddad, there are good expectations of a drop in inflation and a drop in the Selic rate in the coming months. “We have the prospect of reaching a moderate Selic by the end of the year,” he said. The minister avoided saying whether the interest rate cut should start now, but on Monday (19) he had said that the Selic should have started to fall in March, given the fall in inflation projections.