Infrastructure gains room in the BNDES
Valor Econômico - 02/08/2008
The outlays from the BNDES reached R$ 64.9 billion (US$ 36.9 billion) in 2007, 24% above 2006's, a new historical record. "We have met the budget. It ended scraping the barrel ", said Luciano Coutinho, president of the bank, who informed he is already working with a portfolio of R$ 80 billion (US$ 45.5 billion) for this year, "with no problems of resources". The greatest growth was in resources for infrastructure: 62%. According to him, the BNDES is already negotiating another R$ 15 billion (US$ 8.5 billion) to complete its funding this year. "Our concern now is with the amount of resources for 2009 and 2010. Our focus is to elaborate strategies for this two-year period, for the sum of R$ 117 billion (US$ 66.5 billion) in projects that qualified in 2007 points to an already set 2008", he affirmed. The project of the bank for the next three years aims at providing support to the industry of inputs for civil construction and at revitalizing the industry of capital goods. The performance of the institution in 2007 confirmed, according to Coutinho, the "magnificent performance" of the Brazilian economy in the period and fueled up the strong demand for investments in infrastructure. In 2007, the approvals for this sector went 104% up, to R$ 45.7 billion (US$ 26 billion), compared to the R$ 24 billion (US$ 11 billion) one year before. The outlays increased 62%, from R$ 17 billion (US$ 7.8 billion) to R$ 25.6 billion (US$ 14.5 billion). The leaders of infrastructure investments were electric energy and oil and gas, which will continue leading the portfolio of the sector, according to the bank. The expectation of the BNDES is that this year the consolidation of projects in electric energy will continue.