Sinal na mídia internacional

Na edição 155 do Apito Brasil, de 29.11.2010, fornecemos o link para duas matérias divulgadas na mídia internacional sobre a carta que o Sinal enviou à Presidente eleita, Dilma Roussef.
 
O Financial Times e o Wall Street Journal oferecem gratuitamente a leitura de suas matérias, mas há necessidade de inscrição individual.
 
Permitimo-nos sugerir aos colegas que o façam, pois se trata de dois canais respeitáveis de informações econômicas.
 
Independentemente disso, damos aqui ao conhecimento de todos o inteiro teor das duas matérias:
 
 
·         Financial times, 26 de novembro
 
Alexandre Tombini, the next president of Brazil’s central bank, says he is confident there will be no change in the way the bank has pursued inflation targeting free of political interference. But his staff are not so sure.
 
In an extraordinary statement this afternoon, the union representing the bank’s workers criticised recent statements by Dilma Rousseff, president elect, and called on her to grant the bank full legal independence, as opposed to the operational variety it has enjoyed at president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s pleasure.
 
Its statement begins:
 
At a time when public statements suggest intervention in the Central Bank’s monetary policy, SINAL, the National Union of Central Bank Workers, has written to the president elect, Dilma Rousseff, in defence of the institution’s autonomy.
 
What public statements are these? A union spokesperson explains:
 
“There have been lots of articles and declarations by Dilma calling for a reduction in interest rates. The union interprets this as political intervention.”
 
The letter itself is a bit more circumspect. Here are some extracts:
 
“The Central Bank of Brazil enjoys immense and deserved prestige in Brazil and around the world. Our institution has acted incessantly, in an autonomous manner, to guarantee the purchasing power of the currency and to ensure that the financial system is strong and healthy.
 
At a time when the policies of the future Dilma government are being defined, various political actors have expressed their opinions about the Central Bank. We wish to underline the importance of Brazil having a Central Bank – an organ of the State – that is strong and autonomous in the conduct of the continuous processes necessary to confer economic stability and the control of inflation.
 
We call for the legal autonomy that is necessary for the Central Bank to be able to continue its work in the firm and secure manner it has done so until now”.
 
The message is clear: operational independence is not enough; it has to be guaranteed by law.
 
They won’t get what they want, of course. Nor will they win themselves any fans at the presidential palace, by making this statement in the immediate aftermath of Tombini’s appointment, at a time when markets are in a state of high nervousness over whether to trust assurances of continuity and of a coming wave of fiscal
 
By Jonathan Wheatley
 
 
·         Wall Street Journal – 26 de novembro
 
Brazils central bank workers union, Sinal, in an open letter Friday to Brazils president-elect Dilma Rousseff, backed formal autonomy for the institution as a measure to improve the efficiency of its operations.
 
In the letter, signed by union president Sergio Belsito, the union said it backed adjustments to existing legislation that would provide further independence for the bank.
 
"At the moment in which the policies of the future government are being defined and various political agents have expressed opinions with respect to the central bank, we would like to highlight the importance of Brazil having a strong and autonomous central bank–as a state agency–in the conduct of the continuous processes needed to provide the country stability and control of inflation," the group said.
 
The union further emphasized that it backed full legal autonomy for the monetary authority.
 
"We defend the legal autonomy needed so that the central bank can continue its work in a firm and secure way as it has to the present, having for itself the corresponding social control," the union said.
 
A spokesman for the group said in an interview that the union, which previously opposed central bank independence, had revised its position in recent years to favor autonomy after concluding that additional funding provided by the change in status would improve the institutions operations and employee working conditions.
 
The union represents 4600 central bank employees at the institutions 10 regional branches around the country.
 
Brazils central bank is formally subordinated to the countrys finance ministry, though the governments of former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso and current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have allowed it what they characterize as "operational autonomy" to determine monetary policy.
 
Some economists have argued that legal autonomy for the central bank would be an important supporting factor in improving credibility with investors for fighting inflation and reducing the countrys interest rates.
 
Brazils 12-month IPCA consumer price index, its principal measure for inflation currently, as of mid-November stood at 5.5%, a figure above the countrys year-end inflation target of 4.5%.
 
The countrys reference Selic interest rate stands at 10.75%.
 
The central banks recently-appointed president, Alexandre Tombini, said this week that Brazilian president-elect Rousseff gave him assurances that the institution will maintain full operational autonomy after she takes office for a four-year term Jan. 1.
Representatives of Brazils governing coalition in congress, however, have said they are unlikely to support the introduction of a bill to allow for the banks formal autonomy in the upcoming legislative session.
 

By Gerald Jeffris, Dow Jones Newswires