Government plans BNDES to complete return of almost R$90 billion to the Treasury this year

The National Treasury expects to receive, by the end of the year, the balance of almost R$90 billion in loans made to BNDES (National Bank for Social Economic Development) during the PT era.

With this, the Ministry of Economy will have a further reduction in the ratio between gross debt and GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Today, at 77.6%, it would fall by one percentage point — a value corresponding to that recorded at the beginning of the Bolsonarista administration.

The total balance of funds to be returned is R$ 88 billion and, in the month of August, the return of another R$ 10 billion had already been approved by the BNDES’ board and council. For the remaining R$78 billion, the Treasury sent a petition to the TCU that should be analyzed on September 14th.

BNDES and the Economy have differed on the speed of payment. Last year, the disagreement led to frustration with the amount returned. The ministry expected R$100 billion and received R$63 million. Disagreement over the timing of this transfer persisted this year.

The Ministry of Economy tried to expedite payments, but the bank claimed that it could have losses because part of the funds received would be used in financing projects in execution. The government, on the other hand, defended with the TCU, which monitors the process, that the BNDES would not be harmed by making a more agile return, even if the result was lower than it would like.

According to members of the Economy, the TCU has already stated that the verification of the alleged loss of the bank with the return must be analyzed in the operation as a whole – and not operation by operation, as the bank defends.

Guedes has made public statements in recent months complaining about the BNDES’ resistance to speeding up transfers. The minister calls the operation the final unraveling, because it anticipates the process of paying off the loans made by the Treasury to the bank.

One of the arguments used by the government to release the entire balance of almost R$ 90 billion this year was that the retention of resources ends up essentially serving to increase the BNDES’ profit and, by extension, the PLR ​​(sharing in profits and results) of employees , which is much higher than that achieved by other public financial institutions, such as Caixa and Banco do Brasil.

report of Sheet showed precisely the size of the average benefit paid by BNDES, referring to 2021, which was R$ 108.1 thousand per employee. The average value at Banco do Brasil was R$ 27 thousand and Caixa, at R$ 24.3 thousand.

Idiana Tomazelli collaborated.