SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday he expected the Senate to pass a tax reform proposal by the end of the year to restructure the country’s complex excise tax, which The proposal was approved by the House of Commons last week.
“I hope the Senate will repeat what the Lower House did so we can approve the new tax policy by the end of the year,” Lula said during a weekly live broadcast. social media.
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters he supported the upper house in enacting a reform bill based on areas of agreement with the lower house, saying any potentially contentious issues should be addressed.
“Some specific issues should not stand in the way of general consensus,” he said ahead of a meeting with Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco.
Lula pointed to growing optimism about Brazil’s economic outlook and reiterated his call for the central bank to lower interest rates amid declining local inflation trends.
The leftist leader said, referring to central bank governor Roberto Campos Neto, “the central bank The governor is a stubborn guy, but rates will start to come down soon,” adding that the benchmark rate is at 75.75%.
Brazil’s monetary authorities have implemented one of the most aggressive tightening cycles in the world to rein in high consumer prices, but are still set to cut rates in August if the positive inflation picture persists.
