Lula’s pick to head Brazil’s central bank won’t be heard in Senate next week, senator says By Reuters

By Marcela Ayres, Bernardo Caram and Lisandra Paraguassu

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s Senate Economic Affairs Committee (CAE (NYSE: )) will not hold a confirmation hearing next week for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s nominee to head the central bank, the committee chairman said.

“It can wait. It won’t happen next week, I guarantee that,” Senator Vanderlan Cardoso told Reuters on Monday evening.

“We need the right moment, when the talks between the Senate and the government are better. Right now, we are in a slightly delicate moment,” Cardoso said.

Cardoso pointed out that the government has not yet submitted any names for the central bank and suggested the mood could be more favorable for the Senate to quickly approve nominations after the first round of municipal elections in early October.

He also said the government had not honored an agreement on a legislative decree easing gun ownership rules, contributing to a sense of unease that he believes could be resolved once the issue is resolved.

In practice, the process is likely to take longer than the government initially suggested. Finance Minister Fernando Haddad noted in mid-August that the issue was on Lula’s agenda for the “coming weeks.”

Government members told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the anticipation of the nomination will effectively highlight the next head of the central bank, even if Lula’s choice does not take office until early next year, thereby lessening the weight of Governor Roberto Campos Neto’s statements.

Lula, who has repeatedly criticized Campos Neto since taking office last year, must name his replacement, along with the following regulatory and institutional relations directors, who also take office in January 2025.

Given widespread expectations that the central bank’s current monetary policy director, Gabriel Galipolo, will be elected to head the central bank, the current vacancy in his role should also be filled in this reshuffle.

Two other sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters the government was rethinking when Lula could unveil his central bank board appointments after senators signaled it would be better to wait, citing the reduced presence of senators in Brasilia because of the election period. .

One of the sources said recent spats between the branches of government over the release of parliamentary appropriations could set the mood for the confirmation hearings.