brazils central bank held its key interest rate steady for the sixth straight time wednesday despite pressure from president luiz inacio lula da silva for a rate cut to kickstart latin americas biggest economy citing resilient inflation and an external environment that remains adverse the banks monetary policy committee said it had decided to leave the benchmark selic rate at 1375 percent the decision which was in line with market expectations came on the same day the us federal reserve raised its key rate by a quarterpoint  the latest sign the worlds main central banks are not yet ready to take the brakes off monetary policy as they battle to curb inflation brazils central bank called for patience as it kept its key rate at a more than sixyear high it showed no sign its stance would change by its next meeting scheduled for june 20 and 21 considering the uncertainty around its different scenarios the central banks monetary policy committee remains vigilant it said in a statement it will persevere until not only the inflation rate but market expectations have consolidated around its target the committee believes the situation calls for patience and serenity brazils annual inflation rate came in at 465 percent for march returning within the central banks target range  currently 175 to 475 percent  for the first time since january 2021 but the central bank which has waged one of the most hawkish antiinflation campaigns in the world since starting its current tightening cycle two years ago continued to warn surging prices were not yet under control president luiz inacio lula da silva has called brazils key interest rate absurd urging a cut to boost the economy  and openly clashing with central bank chief roberto campos neto the banks monetary policy committee said uncertainty over the lula administrations spending plans was one of the factors in its decision fearing a recession after brazils sluggish economy contracted 02 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022  the last under farright expresident jair bolsonaro  veteran leftist lula is pushing for an interestrate cut to help spur growth analysts polled by the central bank are currently predicting brazils economy will grow one percent in 2023 with inflation of 605 percent for the year market expectations are for the central bank to start easing the interest rate from september according to the banks weekly poll haunted by a history of hyperinflation brazil has aggressively raised its key interest rate from an alltime low of two percent since inflation started to surge worldwide in early 2021 fueled by the effects of the covid19 pandemic and then russias invasion of ukraine brazil currently has the worlds highest real interest rate  subtracting inflation  according to sao paulo investment firm infinity asset