Government prepares package for productive sector
O Estado de S. Paulo 03/11/2009
Yesterday, the president of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), Luciano Coutinho, revealed that the government is preparing a new package of incentives to the productive sector in the Country. The Ministries of Finance, of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, besides the Central Bank (BC) and the very BNDES participated of the discussions. Coutinho did not want to advance the details of the new measures. The President of the BNDES only announced that one of the priority goals will be the segment of small and average-sized companies that are among the segments most affected by the international financial crisis. According to him, the discussions are still preliminary and there is no forecast for its disclosure. Coutinho did not comment if the slowdown in the economy in the fourth quarter of 2008, released yesterday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), will accelerate the conception of the measures, but he admitted the weak performance will require revisions of the growth for 2009. He does not believe, however, that the result can be used as a parameter for the definition of trends. Coutinho recalled that his previous estimates pointed to a growth of the national economy between 2.5% and 3% for 2009. "But, if the crisis becomes more severe and lasts longer, the GDP should remain nearer 2%", he commented. In January, the BNDES presented a decline of 42% in the requests of financing (inquiries) to the bank, in relation to the same month of last year. Coutinho did not go into details about the reasons of such a drastic retreat, but the analyzed that the result, just like the balance of the economy at the end of 2008, cannot be used as a trend.