Opinion

Does Brazil’s Campos Neto deserve to be Central Banker of the Year?

The Banker magazine bestowed Central Bank president Roberto Campos Neto with the reputable prize, but what has he done to deserve it?

central bank roberto campos neto
Roberto Campos Neto during a February 2020 event in the Presidential Palace. Photo: Marcos Corrêa/PR

Roberto Campos Neto, president of Brazil’s Central Bank, enjoyed a pleasant start to 2021, receiving The Banker magazine’s reputable Central Banker of the Year award. Given out to the officials “that have best managed to stimulate growth and stabilise their economy,” Mr. Campos Neto won the award after what the publication called his “competent response to the [Covid-19] crisis.” However, had The Banker’s adjudicators actually assessed Mr. Campos Neto’s main role in office, they may not have been so laudatory.

In the magazine’s view, the Central Bank’s measures to boost liquidity and credit had a major role in improving Brazil’s recession prospects from a forecasted GDP plunge of 9 percent to a less dramatic — yet still eye-watering — 4.5 percent slide.

However, Brazil’s principal monetary authority is not chiefly tasked with fostering economic growth. Instead, the main duty of the Central Bank is to secure the currency’s purchasing power, and all of Mr. Campos Neto’s predecessors who deviated from this mission are not remembered fondly.

In this regard, Mr. Campos Neto could point to the country’s Broad Consumer Price Index (IPCA) as proof of his success. Even with the stress of the pandemic, the index remained within target margins and rose 4.31 percent in the 12 months...

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