11/18/2008 16h47
BNDES will help plants suppliers
O Estado de S.Paulo 11/18/2008
The Federal Government is negotiating with the National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES) a credit line to help suppliers of equipment to the sugar and alcohol sector. The information was given by the Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Miguel Jorge yesterday, after participating of the 1st International Conference about Biofuel, which opened in São Paulo yesterday. According to information of the sector's representatives, it is a direct line to finance manufacturers in the amount of R$ 850 million (US$ 386.4 million). Besides, those companies are also dealing with the development bank a way to speed the release of funds regarding already approved projects. The objective is to mitigate the effects caused by the world crisis, which dried the credit market in the Country and put some plant owners in a delicate situation, to the point of making them delay their commitments. In October, the default index of the sector with manufacturers of equipment was 30%, according to the National Center of the Industries of the Energy and Sugar and Alcohol Sector (Ceise). The plant owners, however, should not have a specific aid package. That is what was indicated by the Ministry of the Civilian Household, Dilma Rousseff, who represented the president of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the opening of the conference, together with three other ministries: Miguel Jorge, Edson Lobão (Mines and Energy), and Reinold Stephanes (Agriculture). According to her, the sector was already given R$ 10 billion package (US$ 4.5 billion) by the government to increase the liquidity of big companies through BNDES at the beginning of the month. "The situation of the sector was one of the factors considered by the government to give shape to the package." The president of the Union of the Sugar Agroindustry of São Paulo (Unica), Marcos Jank, admits that there was an improvement in the release of funds. But it is far from being ideal.
