Jul 19, 2012

• Consultations increase in all sectors, with global expansion of 27%

The total number of consultations for funding from the BNDES reached R$ 92.5 billion between January and May, 2012 , an increase of 27% over the same period in 2011. Growth in consultations covers all economic sectors: agriculture, industry, infrastructure as well as trade and services.

“The expansion in consultations is an indication that investments should increase in coming months, and the tendency is that this will result in an acceleration in the pace of disbursements,” analyzes the Deputy Managing Director of the BNDES’ Planning Division, Cláudio Leal. It is expected that disbursements will be driven by measures recently adopted by the Bank, which reduced interest in its programs and lines of credit.

In industry, one of the highlights was the petrochemical and chemical segment. In infrastructure, the segments of construction, public utilities and transport recorded the most significant results.

Similar behavior to consultations was observed in the eligibility of projects at the BNDES, with across-the-board growth and total expansion of 13% up to last May. At the Bank, eligibility is the stage immediately after consultation and is a good measure of investment available in the business sector.

Disbursements - The BNDES disbursed R$ 43.8 billion between January and May this year, registering a slight increase of 1% compared to the same period in 2011. In May alone, disbursements reached R$ 9.7 billion, virtually equal to the same period last year.

The infrastructure sector, driven by the segments of electric power, telecommunications and rail transport, led the Bank's performance in the first five months of this year, accounting for 39% of global releases. Following this is the industry sector, accounting for 26%, driven by projects in pulp and paper, textiles as well as clothing and metallurgy.

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) accounted for 39% of the BNDES’ total disbursements in the first five months of 2012, thus remaining an important role in the Bank's performance.

The Bank allocated R$ 17.2 billion in financing to MSMEs, with 384,000 operations performed in the period. This represents 95% of the total global operations performed by the institution between last January and May. The BNDES Card, with R$ 3.7 billion disbursed up to last May, is an important instrument for access to credit for smaller companies.