This article analyzes the relationship between the national congress and the central bank of Brazil through the concept of coalitional presidentialism. The concept is used as a mean to describe the more general functioning of the Brazilian political system. After a critical assessment of the literature on accountability of central banks, attention is given to the evolution of the Brazilian central bank’s structure, with special concern to the legal output aiming at the regulation of its activities. Finally, the discussing on the Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito , created in order to investigate the country’s financial system, shows that the conflicts and the outcomes of the CPI could be explained by the logic of interaction between governing parties in the parliament and the president in the context of our political model which combines a presidential system of government and multipartism.
Legislative Behavior; Central Banks; Executive-Legislative Relations; Coalitional Presidentialism; Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry