Liésio Pereira
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - The country's two major central unions lamented the Monetary Policy Committee's (Copom) decision to raise the annualized benchmark interest rate (Selic) from 18.75% to 19.25%.

The national president of the Central Workers' Union (CUT), Luiz Marinho, issued a note pointing out that the increase "only serves to reinforce the need for the democratization of the financial system's highest deliberative organ, the National Monetary Council (CMN)." Yesterday (16), the CUT, business associations, and academic figures launched a campaign to expand the Council, which is currently composed of three members: the president of the Central Bank, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Planning.

The president of the Union Force, Paulo Pereira da Silva (known as "Paulinho"), underscored in a note that "workers can no longer endure being punished by stratospheric interest rates, which are detrimental to the productive sector and the generation of new job posts. "

Translation: David Silberstein