Rio de Janeiro – The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) lent a combined BRL 25 billion (USD 7 billion) in H1, down 9% from H1 2018. In the 12 months through June, they were up 3% from the previous period, with loans of BRL 66.7 billion (USD 17.7 billion). The figures were announced on Thursday (25).
In H1, 45.5% of the bank’s loans went to infrastructure. Highlights were the energy and transport industries.
In terms of consultations for new loans and project approvals, BNDES saw a 49% and a 39% decline, respectively, in H1, reaching BRL 24.7 billion (USD 6.5 billion) and BRL 18.7 billion (USD 4.9 billion).
BNDES reported agribusiness received BRL 6.36 billion (USD 1.68 billion), up 10%. Conversely, industry and commerce and services saw a decline of 7% and 56%, with BRL 4.78 billion (USD 1.26 billion) and BRL 2.57 billion (USD 680 million), respectively.
The figures show that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) received 45.6% of the disbursements offered by the bank in H1. Out of the 114,003 operations recorded in H1 2019, 96.7% were for SMEs.
BNDES Strategic Planning Department head Pedro Looty said that they expect disbursements around BRL 60-70 billion (USD 16-19 billion) this year. The execution of these loans, however, will depend on the rhythm of the economy recovery.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
