Brazil’s Assurance: We’re Not Bankrupt, We’re Part of Solution

Bank of Brazil branch Brazil's new strategy for maintaining investment and expanding credit is reducing interest rates on loans granted by the Bank of Brazil and the Caixa Econômica Federal (Federal Savings Bank). The announcement was made by the Chief of Staff of the Presidency, minister Dilma Rousseff.

"The president is extremely worried about the cost of credit, and is adopting all of the necessary measures in order to reduce the spreads (difference between the interest rates that banks receive and what they loan to third parties) of public banks," said the minister upon attending the 90th anniversary of Farmanguinhos, a medication manufacturing unit of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).

According to Dilma, president Lula wants to implement an interest rate policy compatible with the reality of the country, especially concerning spreads.

"There has been no increase in the amount of interest received in relation to what is being charged when equal amounts of capital are lent. We want to expand our investment capacity, rather than follow old recipes that have been used before, such as reducing credit, consumption and investment," said the minister.

She assured that the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) of the Brazilian federal government is going to be maintained, as well as investment in the pre-salt area, among others. "We are not bankrupt. We are not part of the problem, we are part of the solution."

The Brazilian government announced in Brasí­lia (capital of Brazil) new measures aimed at boosting the economy, among them new, lower income tax rates, reduction of the Financial Operations Tax (IOF) in credit operations for natural persons, reduction of the Industrialized Products Tax (IPI) for the auto industry and dollar auctions by the Central Bank of Brazil using foreign reserve funds. Tax waiver from fiscal measures should total 8.4 billion Brazilian reais (US$ 3.4 billion).

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil Scolds Mexico for Visa Requirement and Threatens to Bar Country from Mercosur

The Brazilian Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, commented today in New York about ...

Brazil and Amazon Nations Officials Discuss Science and Technology

Amazon region countries take another step toward achieving greater regional cooperation with the First ...

Brazil Will Keep Growing Agricultural Exports to Arabs in 2010

The Middle East and North Africa are included in the action plans of Brazil’s ...

Brazil Puts US$ 598 Million in ‘Agenda Of Commitments’ to Create Jobs

The Agenda of Commitments for social development that the Brazilian federal government launched today ...

Brazil’s 2005 Trade Surplus Well Above Expectations: US$ 44 Bi

Brazil’s Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Luis Fernando Furlan, told journalists at ...

US farm

Brazil, US and Co. Intransigence Delays Doha Accord to 2008 or Later

According to a UN expert, the Doha Rounds, the global trade agreement that is ...

Brazil and India Cold to G8’s One-Month Deadline for WTO Negotiations

Leaders of the Group of Eight major industrial countries meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia ...

US Judge Hears Investors Claiming to Be Defrauded by Petrobras

Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras urged a U.S. judge to throw out an investors’ ...

Sorry, Says Lula, I’m No Leftist Anymore

Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva announced  that he no longer belongs to the ...

A Campaign to Save Brazilian Indians from Genocide

Survival International, a human rights organization that fights for tribal peoples, has launched a ...