Brazil central bank chief says tightening cycle still open

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s central bank governor said on Monday that the monetary tightening cycle is still open and that policymakers want to preserve their flexibility to digest incoming data and calibrate the appropriate terminal interest rate.

“We are still discussing the hiking cycle,” Gabriel Galipolo said at an event in Sao Paulo. “Flexibility means we are open.”

The bank’s monetary policy committee meets later this month for its next rate decision, after raising the benchmark Selic rate by 50 basis points in May to 14.75%, its highest level in nearly two decades.

Policymakers last month dropped forward guidance and any mention of the need for a more restrictive rate, instead highlighting the necessity of maintaining a restrictive stance for a prolonged period.

The shift was w