The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil approved on Tuesday a provisional measure creating new export credit lines, extending support to companies affected by US tariffs and by the war in the Middle East. The measure now moves to the Senate, where it loses validity the following week.
Reviving Brasil Soberano
The package partly revives the Brasil Soberano programme, which was designed to help exporters hit by US tariff increases. Its scope has now been widened to cover sectors affected by rising costs and logistics problems linked to the Middle East war.
The measure can mobilise up to 13.5 billion reais, released through the Treasury, and the BNDES may provide an additional amount on top of that ceiling. The government says the funds require no spending outside the budget, drawing mainly on the surplus of the Export Guarantee Fund and other existing public fund balances and budget allocations.
Who bears the risk
The government will not lend directly. Credit will be granted by the BNDES and by authorised financial institutions, which will bear the risk themselves. Interest rates, terms and conditions are to be set by the National Monetary Council, while selection criteria will come from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce.
The measure allows financing to be arranged before export contracts are signed. It was approved in a joint committee the previous week, with a report by Senator Leany Lemos of the PSB-DF. The government’s stated expectation is to multiply current export credit volume more than tenfold in the short term.
Related: Brazil commission backs R$22.6 billion aid for tariff-hit exporters
Source: Brasil Soberano
