Agência Brasil

Brasília - In an official note, the president of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp), Paulo Skaf, affirmed that there is no reason for the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) to have announced "such an insignificant" cut in the benchmark interest rate.

"The 0.5% reduction is once again a disappointment. The economy will end the year with mediocre growth. The Fiesp was hoping for a less bitter Christmas for Brazil," he remarked.

Yesterday (14), the Copom decided to lower the government's annualized benchmark interest rate (Selic) by 0.5%, from 18.5% to 18%.

Translation: David Silberstein