The Brazilian Central Bank on Wednesday its monetary tightening process and interrupted the country’s Selic benchmark interest rate at 13.75 percent. It was the first in 13 policy meetings that the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee opted against a rate bump.
Two of the committee’s nine members voted for a 0.25-point increase, which was the direction some market analysts expected, given that inflation continues at high levels and widespread despite the recent easing in fuel prices. Still, the decision did not catch off-guard markets. Rather, the Central Bank’s comments on the future stood out as more significant than its decision…