Dec 3, 2014

• Releases throughout 2014 are expected to remain at the same level as last year

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) ended October with a stable volume of disbursements reaching R$ 146.5 billion in the first 10 months of the year. This means that the Bank should end 2014 with disbursements at a level similar to that recorded last year, when the Bank released R$ 190.4 billion.

Numbers were announced December 3 by the president of the BNDES, Mr. Luciano Coutinho, during a seminar on the research developed on Investment Perspectives for 2015-2018, prepared by the Bank’s Economic Research Division.

The main highlight in the performance from January to October were disbursements to infrastructure, which grew 11% against the first months in 2013. Other highlights from the Bank’s performance include support for innovation, which grew 67% reaching a record R$ 6 billion in 12 months, and the BNDES Card, following an expansion of 14% in the period.

Performance in 2014 is in keeping with the strategy to moderate the BNDES’ operations, while ensuring investments are maintained and support is provided to priority sectors. Within this context, in addition to prioritizing infrastructure, the BNDES has been stimulating the competitiveness of local companies, providing support for innovation and to modernize machinery and equipment, as well as supporting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which are important for employment.

To meet the demand for credit already contracted this year, the BNDES was authorized to receive a R$ 30 billion loan from the National Treasury. Resources decreasingly collected by the Bank since the peak recorded in 2009/2010 are important for the Bank to meet demands from the local production sector.

Operational Policies – At the same time, the BNDES is preparing new Operational Policies (OPs). OPs are the rules that establish rates, terms and levels of participation exercised by the Bank for the different sectors in the economy, always in accordance with the priority level assigned by the institution to each sector.

The OP’s main focus is to preserve investments in the infrastructure sector, which will be one of the main areas to grow over the next few years, in addition to stimulating competitiveness and modernizing factories within the production system, especially the transformation industry, with support for innovation. Support for MSMEs is also a priority.

New Operational Policies should also intensify changes that have been in effect since March of this year. On that occasion, the Bank reduced its maximum level of participation in most financing, opening up the field to other sources, besides intensifying the use of market indexes for some loans to preserve funding in Long-Term Interest Rates (TJLP) for high-priority projects and sectors.

To see the BNDES’ Performance Report until October, click here.