Brazil to grant increased export credits in 1999
ReutersPlus, Friday, May 14, 1999 at 18:03
SAO PAULO, May 14 (Reuters) - Brazil's National Development
Bank (BNDES) is expected to grant credits of $3 billion to
exporters in 1999, $1 billion more than last year, Development,
Trade and Industry Minister Celso Lafer said on Friday.
"Our expectation is to give support this year which will
reach $3 billion, much more than what was granted last year,
which was $2 billion," Lafer told local radio network CBN.
"Commercial credit lines are being reworked but we still
haven't reached the necessary equivalent level to what we had
before the crisis in Russia," he said.
Lafer was referring to Russia's debt moratorium announced
last year, which triggered a crisis of investor confidence in
Brazil, Latin America's largest economy.
He said the ministry viewed Brazil's export sector as a
priority and that the BNDES was instrumental in providing
support to exporting companies in the form of credits.
"In the first quarter we had BNDES support for exports to
the tune of $509 million. In the first four months...it was
$675 million," Lafer said.
Brazil reported a trade deficit of $779 million in the
January-April period, on exports of $13.747 billion and imports
of $14.526 billion.
Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service |
