Comportamento da taxa de juros e do spread bancário no governo Lula (2003-2010)

Abstract

This paper presents the behavior of the interest rates and banking spreads in Brazil in the period between 2003 and 2010. The main goal of this work is to measure and evaluate the interest rates and the banking spreads at the Lula’s government. The methodology used was qualitative analysis of the database presented by secondary data provided by the Central Bank of Brazil, considering the years of 2003 until 2010. The SELIC rate, basic interest rate of the Brazilian economy, defined by the Monetary Policy Council (COPOM), was an important tool used by the Lula government to keep inflation within targets established and to stimulate economic growth. The government has adopted important measures to reduce bank spreads, used at very high levels in Brazil. Interest rates used in Brazil are analyzed, as well as the composition of bank spread, the types of loans and macroeconomic policy adopted under Lula’s government. The credit default and the risk are the factors that makes more difficult to reduce the banking spread in Brazil. The lending grew significantly during the period, as well as the representativeness of the credit in the composition of GDP.