To CNN, Meirelles says that he was already thinking about BC autonomy with Lula in 2003

President of the Central Bank for all eight years of the first two terms of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), Henrique Meirelles said, in an interview with CNN which had full independence in its decisions at the time, although there was still no formal law for this, and which was even discussing with Lula the idea of ​​a project that would guarantee autonomy in the BC along the lines of the law that came later, in 2021 .

“When I was Minister of Finance, in 2016, 2017, 2018, I also helped with the drafting of this law [da autonomia do Banco Central]and it’s a project that I’ve had since 2003, even combined it at the time with then-president Lula, or even before, during the period before he took office, in 2002″, Meirelles told, who spoke to CNN this Saturday (18) in the midst of Lula’s escalation of criticism of the Central Bank and the current high level of interest rates.

Meirelles said that, under the first PT administrations, there was “operational autonomy” in the BC and that the relationship “worked very well”.

“I had a very friendly and fluid conversation with the president, who was Lula himself, or with the finance minister. I could agree with some suggestions that they did or didn’t,” he said.

“There was still no Central Bank independence law, but I was and acted independently, which was something that, at the time, the press called the ‘operational autonomy’ of the BC, which also worked very well, because agents economic agents, price makers, businessmen, consumers, etc., began to believe that the BC was in fact acting independently. I stayed there for eight years and it worked very well.”

For Meirelles, it is natural and part of the game that the President of the Republic complains about high interest rates and criticizes the monetary policy operated by the Central Bank – “it is part of politics and in several countries it happens”, he says. “That is precisely why the Central Bank is independent”.

He stated that, despite the rise in tone now, he believes that the discussion will dissipate over time, and that also, even if Lula tries, it is unlikely that the law that reinforced the independence of the Central Bank would be revised by Congress.

“The leaders of Congress, mainly the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira, have already emphatically said that the BC’s autonomy was approved by Congress and that they will not go back,” he said.

Lula, who, since taking office, has already questioned autonomy, the president of the Central Bank, high interest rates and also the inflation targets pursued by the autarchy, returned to criticism this week in an interview given to the anchor of the CNN Daniela Lima, when she suggested that she can “change” the law of autonomy if she evaluates that its results are not. The full interview with Lula can be seen here.