Feb 1, 2018

The region’s participation in the Bank’s disbursements reached 20%. That is the highest percentage since the start of the historical series, in 1995

Wind power generation projects were the main items responsible for this performance, having received R$ 6.6 billion last year

The disbursements from the Brazilian Social and Economic Development Bank (BNDES) to the Northeast region grew by 24% last year, compared to 2016, and reached R$ 14.2 billion. According to BNDES’s director of Planning and Credit, Carlos Alexandre Da Costa, the region accounted for 20% of the national total disbursed by the Bank, the largest percentage since the start of the historical series, in 1995. The result also overcomes the relative participation of the region in the GDP, which is 14.2%, according to data from IBGE. From 2012 to 2017, disbursements to the Northeast region amounted to R$ 119.2 billion.

The generation of electric power from wind was the segment which most received resources from BNDES in the Northeast in 2017: R$6.6 billion last year, adding up to more than R$ 23.8 billion disbursed since 2012. The region concentrates 83.4% of the Brazilian wind energy industry, with 10,543.2 megawatts of installed capacity, enough to supply more than 23 million households. The parks which are still under construction and/or contracted add 4,642.9 MW to this total.

The Northeastern states that had the highest growth in disbursements over the previous year were Piauí (154.7%), Maranhão (81.9%) and Paraíba (73.6%), driven by the deployment operations of wind farms — and, in the case of Maranhão, also due to the operations with Vale S.A. and with the state Government.

The states that received most of the resources disbursed for the region, between 2012 and 2017, were Bahia (29.4% of the Northeast’s total), Pernambuco (17.2%), Maranhão (16.1%) and Ceará (14.1%). Among the projects supported in the period, those which stand out include the expansion of Salvador’s metro system, with the expansion of Line 1 and construction of Line 2, sanitation infrastructure (BA), investments in the naval industry (PE) and in the automotive industry (BA and PE) and implementation of wind farms (BA and CE).

Jobs and regional development – In 2017 alone, it is estimated that the implementation of projects with disbursements from BNDES to the Northeast region was responsible for the generation and maintenance of more than 235,000 jobs, which corresponds to 20% of the total jobs associated with projects supported by BNDES in the period.  

“The actions of BNDES in the development of the Northeast region were responsible for 3% of officially registered job openings in the region. In addition to the focus on infrastructure, our performance has great impacts on the strengthening of local productive chains,” says Carlos Alexandre Da Costa.

Socio-environmental performance – At the end of last year, BNDES approved the allocation of R$ 100 million from its Social Fund for the installation of 6,800 cisterns (52,000 liters model) in the Brazilian semi-arid region. Since 2013, the Bank has allocated R$ 271 million in non-reimbursable resources from its Social Fund for the construction of 25,000 cisterns, which capture and store rain water for use in irrigation and animal breeding. Its recipients are low-income rural families affected by the drought or by the regular lack of water in the Brazilian semi-arid region, which covers eight Northeastern states (AL, BA, CE, PB, PE, PI, RN and SE) and MG, where about 24 million Brazilians live.

National performance and MSMEs – Considering the performance for the whole country, BNDES disbursed R$ 70.8 billion in the last year. The highlight were the disbursements to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which grew 9% and reached R$ 29.7 billion (42% of the total disbursed by the Bank, a historical record of participation).

In the Northeast region, the states of Paraíba and Ceará followed the national trend also in this aspect. The former showed a 3.4% growth in disbursements for small-sized enterprises, which received R$ 98.7 million. On the other hand, the MSMEs of Ceará received R$ 316.7 million from BNDES last year, a 2.5% increase from 2016.