Mar 6, 2018

Changes in the Bank’s Operational Policies resume the measures announced in January this year, when the TLP entered into force

Spreads will be smaller in innovation, public safety, sanitation, alternative energy, environment, professional qualification and treatment of waste

Deadlines (grace period and amortization) will be extended, which will mostly benefit infrastructure. The Bank’s participation reaches up to 100% in projects of MSMs

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) promoted adjustments in the Operational Policies that guide its funding, resuming the changes announced in January this year, when the Long-Term Rate (TLP), which replaced the TJLP as base rate of the Bank’s operations, entered into force. The measures were announced by the Bank’s president, Paulo Rabello de Castro, in a news conference on Tuesday, 6, in São Paulo.

The main changes are: extension of the maximum deadline for funding, calculation of the participation limits associated with the total investment and reduction of the basic spread. The decrease in the spreads (which are the fee through which BNDES remunerates itself) will be focused on the priority sectors, defined, based on the Strategic Reflection process that is underway at the Bank. 

Thus, the fees charged by BNDES will fall from 1.7% to 0.9% per year in projects within the fields of public security, innovation, environment, solar energy, sanitation, solid waste treatment and professional qualification. In other cases, the spreads may reach up to 2.1% per year, with intermediate ranges corresponding to 1.3% and 1.7% per year.

Another relevant change is the extension of the deadline limits, in relation to both the grace and depreciation periods, which will mainly benefit the financing of infrastructure projects. Investments in railways, highways, waterways and urban mobility will be assigned a deadline limit of up to 34 years. 

There are three other deadline limit ranges: alternative energy, ports, airports, export and regional development projects may reach up to 24 years. Funding for education, health, security and telecommunications, among others, may reach up to 20 years. For working capital, the maximum deadline was kept at 5 years.

From now on, BNDES will also calculate the maximum participation percentage of its funding based on the project’s total investments, and not on the fundable items only. This change is in line with the usual market practice. 

In the case of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, BNDES’s maximum participation can reach up to 100% in all lines of financing. For large-sized companies, BNDES’s maximum participation is 80% in the case of projects considered to be encouraged (those from priority sectors) and 60% in other cases.