PEC on BC autonomy returns to the agenda of the Senate's CCJ even without consensus

The Senate's CCJ (Constitution and Justice Committee) must resume discussion of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) which expands the financial and administrative autonomy of the BC (Central Bank). The proposal is on the board's agenda this Wednesday (10), scheduled to start at 9am.

Despite being among the items that must be analyzed by the CCJ, the text is not the subject of consensus and the vote has already been postponed several times. Despite this, as CNN showed, the text's rapporteur, senator Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM), is optimistic about the approval of the matter in the commission. According to the congressman, the PEC would today have the support of at least 13 senators, a sufficient number to approve the agenda in the CCJ.

In his report, Valério included provisions related to Pix, giving the monetary authority exclusive competence to regulate and operate the instant payments system.

The project received support from the president of the BC, Gabriel Galípolo, and the board of directors of the monetary authority. The PEC, however, still faces resistance from part of the government base and also divides entities linked to the Central Bank.

One of the main points is the change proposed by the rapporteur, who defines the Central Bank as a public entity "of a special nature, with technical operational and administrative, budgetary and financial autonomy". With this, the BC would have the freedom to hire and invest in technology.

For the government's base, however, it is important that the monetary authority remains an agency for the Executive to make these definitions.

Signal (National Union of Central Bank Employees) states that linking Pix to the BC could "stifle" the tool. The ANBCB (National Association of Central Bank Auditors) defends the proposal and states that budgetary, financial and administrative autonomy is necessary to guarantee the protection and "evolution of strategic infrastructures such as Pix".

In a note, BC employees claim that advances in financial inclusion, with millions of Brazilians incorporated into the financial system and the significant increase in supervised institutions, require broader and more rigorous supervision.

"Staff reductions in recent years, however, threaten the Central Bank's ability to keep up with this growth and preserve the country's financial stability," they wrote.

For BC employees, the text presented by the rapporteur provides the necessary conditions to face these challenges. "It strengthens the institutional autonomy of the Central Bank, ensuring that our operations remain technical and focused on the public interest. With contributions from different sectors of society, this debate has matured and the proposal has evolved", they claim.

Plínio Valério's opinion was presented in May, but the president of the CCJ, senator Otto Alencar (PSD-BA), granted a collective view so that congressmen would have more time to analyze the document.

Ministry of Finance resists voting on BC's PEC on Wednesday (20) | CNN 360º

Source: CNN