São Paulo – The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) informed on Monday (15) that it disbursed R$ 37.2 billion (US$ 18.6 billion) in loans in the first quarter, growth of 52% over the first three months last year. The total was record for the period, according to the state-owned fostering bank.
In the institution’s evaluation, the growth “shows expressive recovery of investment”. The main highlights were the financing of machinery and equipment, for industry and micro, small and medium companies. In the latter case, the disbursements totalled R$ 15.1 billion (US$ 7.6 billion), growth of 50% over the first quarter of 2012. This total was also record.
According to the bank, industry answered to 36% of the financing in the period, with R$ 13.5 billion (US$ 6.8 billion), growth of 109%. The Finame, a line of credit for production or acquisition of machinery and equipment, totalled R$ 16.3 billion (US$ 8.2 billion) in loans, growth of 70% in comparison with the first three months of 2012. This programme includes disbursements for investment in industrial machinery, transport material and agricultural implements.
For the infrastructure area, however, liberation dropped 7% and reached R$ 9.3 billion (US$ 4.7 billion). Trade, in turn, received R$ 9.7 billion (US$ 4.9 billion), growth of 65%, and agriculture, R$ 4.7 billion (US$ 2.9 billion), growth of 113%.
Approval in the first quarter, operations authorised by the bank, but not yet disbursed, totalled R$ 40.7 billion (US$ 20.4 billion), growth of 51% over the same period in 2012. To the institution, this strengthens the thesis of “a return of activity” in the Brazilian economy.
*Translated by Mark Ament
