The Central Bank of Brazil maintains the reference rate at 6.5%

The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB)) maintained on Wednesday its basic interest rate at 6.5%, its historic minimum, at its first meeting after the election of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, informed the monetary authority.

The decision, approved unanimously among the nine members of BCB's Monetary Policy Committee (Copom), agrees with the expectations of the majority of badysts.

Bolsonaro was elected with the promise that his Minister of the Economy, Paulo Guedes, would significantly reduce the cumbersome public debt expense.

Without making any reference to these prospects, the Copom statement merely states that its next steps in managing Selic's base rate "will continue to depend on the evolution of economic activity, the balance of risks and forecasts of inflation expectations. "

Among the risks, it gives" greater weight "to those who are linked" with a frustration of expectations regarding the continuity of reforms and adjustments of the Brazilian economy ", which could intensify with" a deterioration of the external scenario of emerging economies ".

As the main tool against inflation, the reference rate is at its historical minimum since March, after repeated losses.

The rise in prices is close to the target set by the government, namely 4.5% for the current year.

Pressure on prices has declined in recent weeks, after the Brazilian real strengthened against the dollar as Jair Bolsonaro's victory was clearly defined.

The dollar was traded on Wednesday at 3, 72 reais, after reaching 4.20 in September, at a time when opponents opposed to the adjustment policy were well placed in the polls.

The National Confederation of Industries (CNI) considered that Copom's decision was "right" and stressed that "the resumption of the rate reduction path will depend on the elected government", which will take office on 1 January.

The Força Sindical plant denounces "an excess of conservatism" in the decision of the Copom and called to resume the cycle of cuts to encourage an economy that has gone through two years of recession, between 2015 and 2016, and two other low growth.

The expectation of the market is this year 2018 ends with inflation of 4.43% and GDP growth of 1.36%.