Brasília – The National Monetary Council (CMN, in the Portuguese acronym) has defined how the 10 billion Brazilian reals (US$ 5.8 billion) that have been added to the lines of credit of the Sustained Investment Program (PSI) will be distributed. Part of the additional funds will be used in a new line of financing in the program that will allocate 500 million reals (US$ 293.2 million) to small and medium enterprises that export capital goods and consumer goods.
The new line will only benefit companies with a gross annual income of up to 90 million reals (US$ 52.7 million). According to the Monetary Council, the interest rate will be 5.5% per year for capital goods and 8% a year for consumer goods.
The council has also increased the limits of funds for several financing categories within the PSI. The line for manufacturing of capital goods (machinery equipment used in production), which accounts for the majority of the PSI, had its budget revised to 67 billion reals (US$ 39.2 billion), at an annual interest rate of 5.5%. Pre-export financing of goods will count on 15.9 billion reals (US$ 9.3 billion), at the same interest rate.
The pre-export line for consumer goods has been revised to 7 billion reals (US$ 4.1 billion), at an annual interest rate of 8%. Financing for the manufacturing of buses and trucks has been increased from 28 billion (US$ 16.4 billion) to 31.5 billion reals (US$ 18.4 billion), at an annual interest rate of 8%. The budget for the Pró-Caminhoneiro (Pro-Trucker) line, which finances the purchase of said vehicles, has gone up from 8.6 billion reals (US$ 5 billion) to 10.1 billion reals (US$ 5.9 billion), at an annual interest rate of 4.5%.
The remaining credit will be divided as follows: 1 billion reals (US$ 586 million) for technological innovation (annual interest rate of 3.5%), 1 billion reals for innovative capital (annual interest rate of 4.5%) and 500 million reals (US$ 293 million) for the line targeting smaller companies that was established today.
Approximately 20 days ago, a provisional measure increased the budget of the PSI, which grants credit for productive investment at subsidized interest rates, up from 124 billion reals (US$ 72.7 billion) to 134 billion (US$ 78.5 billion).
The CMN has also approved the extension of the deadline for obtaining financing. The initial deadline, on December 31st, had been extended until March 31st, 2011 through a provisional measure, but approval from the council was pending.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
