Campos Neto gave a casting vote at a Copom meeting; understand division between ‘veterans’ and ‘newbies’

Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) decided to reduce the Selic rate by 0.25 percentage points

The Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of the Central Bank decided to reduce the Selic rate by 0.25 percentage points on Wednesday, 8th, breaking the cycle of six consecutive cuts of 0.50 points. The tiebreaker was the vote of Roberto Campos Neto, the president of the BC. This is Campos Neto’s second mining vote in a year.

The ‘division’ of votes was one of the highlights of this Copom decision, explains economist Bruno Imaizumi, from LCA Consultores, to Earth. This is because the oldest members of the Copom, nominated by former president Jair Bolsonaro, voted for a reduction of 0.25 percentage points: Carolina de Assis Barros, Diogo Abry Guillen, Otávio Ribeiro Damaso and Renato Dias de Brito Gomes — in addition to the president from BC.

Those appointed by the Lula government voted for a reduction of 0.50 pp: Ailton de Aquino, Gabriel Galípolo, Paulo Picchetti and Rodrigo Teixeira. “Of the meetings that had decisions that were not unanimous, this and the last one –voted in August 2023– were the tightest”, says the economist.

It was in this decision last August in which Campos Neto also cast a tie-breaking vote. Before that, the last time a BC president cast a casting vote was Henrique Meirelles, in 2007.

Divergences

According to the economist’s survey, 34 meetings have already taken place with differing votes to define the country’s new interest rate level.

Of this amount, in 62% of cases — 21 times — the stance that prevailed was the least aggressive, called ‘dovish’. In the case of this Wednesday’s vote, the most aggressive, hawkish stance was the one that stood out.

“Agents are anxiously awaiting next Tuesday’s minutes, the most detailed document in which the Committee can better present its ideas. Only then will we be able to understand how divided the Committee is”, adds Imaizumi.