New chief defends autonomy of Brazil's central bank

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 13 (Xinhua) -- BRAZIL's new central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto defended more autonomy for the institution as he was sworn in on Wednesday.

It was necessary both to maintain the current progress obtained in monetary policy and to advance even more, Campos Neto said. "We believe that an autonomous central bank would be better prepared to solidify recent gains and open a way for much-needed advances."

Keeping the inflation rate low to step up domestic purchasing power and consolidate BRAZIL's financial system were the two main goals of his work, he added.

The bank's chief also vowed to improve BRAZILians' financial education and to make the financial system more democratic.

It was his first speech as a central bank chief since he took office in late February amid a slowdown in economic growth.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who assumed office in January, is in favor of making the central bank autonomous. His chief of staff Onyx Lorenzoni said on Jan. 23 that the president planned to formally establish the central bank's independence in his first 100 days in office.

There is currently a bill on the matter in Congress, which the government hopes is approved soon.

South America's largest economy is slowly recovering from a recession that hit in 2015 and lasted two years. BRAZIL registered GDP growth of 1 percent and 1.1 percent in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Enditem