São Paulo – Loans made by the National Development Bank reached 24.9 billion Brazilian reals (US$ 15.2 billion) in the first quarter, a 2% decline compared with the same period of last year. It was the first reduction since 2006, according to information disclosed by the institution this Monday (16th). The state-owned development bank is the leading supplier of long-term financing in Brazil.
In March only, the decline was even stronger. Disbursements reached 7.7 billion reals (US$ 4.7 billion), 18% less than in the same month of last year. In a press statement, the bank informed, however, that “the behaviour of disbursements by the BNDES is in line with the expectation of a stable level of disbursements in 2011, compared with the previous year.”
The institution announced that in the first three months of 2011, “approvals” grew by 23%, compared with the same period of 2010, and reached 36.2 billion reals (US$ 22.1 billion). The figure concerns disbursements that have already been approved by the bank, but have not been issued yet.
There was also an increase in the number of “compliances” (13%) and “consultations” (17%). The former are projects that are in keeping with the bank’s regulations, but have not been approved yet; and the latter, as the name says, consists of inquiries made to the institution, which theoretically express the interest of entrepreneurs in raising funds in order to invest.
As for “approvals,” the leading sectors were food and beverages (growth of 103%) and chemicals and petrochemicals (increase of 129%). The bank’s statement also points out to the “good moment” of the pulp and paper industry, and that Brazil “concentrates nearly all of the large investment in short-fibre pulp worldwide.”
The BNDES also highlights the growth in disbursements to micro, small and medium businesses and to natural persons, which reached 11.2 billion reals (US$ 6.8 billion) in the first quarter, an increase of 13% over the same period of last year. The number of transactions grew by 43% using the same basis of comparison and reached 160,000, of which 98,200 were conducted using the BNDES Card, used by small entrepreneurs. Releases via the card reached 1.3 billion reals (US$ 796 million), an increase of 81%.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum