01/09/2009 15h00
BNDES receives US$ 17.6 billion back-up and shall resume raising funds abroad
O Estado de S. Paulo 01/09/2009
The cash back-up the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) received from the Government since last November, in an effort to guarantee the financing to the national companies, amounted to R$ 40.5 billion (US$ 17.6 billion) and it may represent almost half of the funds released by the bank in 2008. The exact volume of disbursements last year has not been revealed yet, but it should exceed R$ 90 billion (US$ 49.2 billion), nearly R$ 50 billion (US$ 27.3 billion) of which from its own funds. Last year, after seven years of absence in the foreign market, the BNDES resumed raising funds abroad and, for the first time in its history, it issued Bank Deposit Certificates (CBDs, in Portuguese). The last year's exceptionality - caused by the deepening of the international financial crisis at a moment of strong investment of the domestic industry - should repeated this year, according to Maria Isabel Aboim, superintendent of the Financial Area of the BNDES. "The behavior in 2008 was something completely unexpected, a new situation. Everything seems to indicate that the same behavior will repeate in 2009. The demand remains strong and what is seen is the repetition of a pattern." She does not rule out the return of the BNDES to the external market, even to "open the doors" to Brazilian companies abroad, in an effect similar to that the government usually suffers with operations of the Treasury when it issues debt securities. "BNDES should not depend upon this kind of funding this year because this is very uncertain. But the bank should indeed have access to this kind of market. It is strategically very important to diversify the sources", said Maria Isabel. But, taking into account the need of volumes, which are relevant, "BNDES cannot depend on markets that open today and close afterwards", she analyzed. In this first half, the cash of the bank will gain an extra back-up with the inflow of funds negotiated with multilateral organizations. At the end of last year, the bank went through an intense period of negotiations with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, besides Japanese Eximbank, JIBC. Yesterday, the bank announced the release of US$ 250 million by the Japanese institution.
