Brasília – The Brazilian minister of Agriculture, Reinhold Stephanes, said today (16) that the conditions governing a line of credit of 10 billion Brazilian reals (US$ 4.5 billion) to support the agroindustry are going to be defined in a meeting scheduled to take place tomorrow (17), with the participation of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“Early tomorrow, we will see what will be the conditions regarding clearance and interest rates,” said the minister to Agência Brasil, prior to the opening of the Agrobrasília trade fair. The line of credit should be operated by the Bank of Brazil and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).
According to Stephanes, interest rates should be lower than usually charged by the BNDES. Due to the global financial crisis, the agricultural industry is being harmed by the slowdown in exports, especially in the slaughterhouse segment. Several factories were shut down and thousands of employees had to be dismissed.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
