Treasury was authorized to lend US$ 7.1 billion to the BNDES
Valor Econômico 01/08/2008
The National Treasury's Secretariat was authorized by the Presidency of the Republic to lend R$ 12.5 billion (US$ 7.1 billion) to the Brazilian Social and Economic Development Bank (BNDES), of which it is the sole shareholder. The news was published yesterday at the "Federal Official Gazette" and confirmed the information given to Valor by the bank's president Luciano Coutinho. In December, the Treasury had already lent R$ 2.5 billion (US$ 1.4 billion) of funds from its treasury to the bank, which, added to the new loan, now reach R$ 15 billion (US$ 7.1 billion), informed BNDES' Finance Officer Maurício Borges Lemos. With this money, the bank has covered half of the R$ 30 billion (US$ 17.04 billion) it needs to raise in order to guarantee the 2008 budget of R$ 80 billion (US$ 45.45 billion), the greatest of its history, approved in the last meeting of the board of the institution, at the end of last year. Lemos said they already have R$ 50 billion (US$ 28.4 billion) guaranteed from the flows of loans and another R$ 15 billion from the Treasury. "Now we have to find the solution for the other R$ 15 billion (US$ 7.1 billion)", he said. One of the probable sources of funds is the FGTS (Employment Security Fund). But Lemos considers that this option depends on negotiations. "We have to negotiate with the Oversight Board of the FGTS Fund, which has recently approved rules for its investment fund in infrastructure. Depending on the sectors they will give priority to, the bank may have access to a slice of this fund. But there will be many requirements and bureaucracy ", he foresees. Other alternatives for raising such funds are being studied. The placement of debentures in the domestic market at a more moderate volume than what occurred last year is one of them. The international market is also being watched, but the finance officer of the BNDES said that he does not like to leave the BNDES unmatched. "For the BNDES, raising funds in US Dollars and lending them in TJLP (Long Term Interest Rates) may bring problems to the borrower. It may not be willing to pay for the exchange rate correction. "