According to Brazil’s Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan, Brazilian exports this year could rise above US$ 117 billion.
Speaking at the 25th Foreign Trade Conference ( 25º Encontro Nacional de Comércio Exterior) (Eaex), Furlan announced that for the 12-month period, ending on November 20, exports have now reached US$ 115 billion.
Furlan went on to say that he was at the conference expecting a lot of complaints, about the exchange rate, the red tape, infrastructure and the need for revamping legislation and laws.
But he went on to say that in spite of the problems export sector performance was very strong this year and would improve even more as trade barriers come down in the future.
In his speech Furlan called President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Brazil’s biggest salesman. "He has used every international meeting as a platform to push for trade. Some of his trips opened the door to business worth as much as US$ 250 million to US$ 300 million," said the Minister.
Credit for Modernization
Brazil’s National Monetary Council (CMN) has approved the creation of a line of credit that will make US$ 1.34 billion available for industrial modernization (Programa de Modernização do Parque Industrial Nacional) (Modermaq). The funds will come from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and be available in 2006.
This year, in a similar credit program, the BNDES loaned out US$ 890 million. An advantage of these new BNDES loans is that the interest is 13.95% per year, instead of the regular 14.95% the bank is charging at the moment.
Agência Brasil