Government launches serial credit measures and starts focusing on women

The government begins this Tuesday (8) to launch credit measures to try to move the economy while generating positive guidelines for President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the final stretch of the pre-election calendar.

The first initiative will focus on entrepreneurship among women. The action will be launched on Women’s Day, as Bolsonaro’s allies identify female rejection of her name as an obstacle to reelection.

Called Brasil pra Elas, the program provides credit for working capital, cards with no annual fee and interest discounts for those who pay on time, depending on the financial institution. The operating banks will be Caixa, Banco do Brasil, Banco do Nordeste and Banco da Amazônia.

In addition, training and qualification are planned through the S System. Partnerships will also be made with associations to bring the same conditions to those who do not have access to the internet.

Bolsonaro must sign a decree that will officially create the national strategy for female entrepreneurship, with an inter-ministerial committee to deal with issues related to this agenda.

The assessment of the economic team is that it is necessary to strengthen the financial independence of women. Although today many social programs already privilege women in the granting of benefits, such as Casa Verde e Amarela and Auxílio Brasil, female participation in the granting of credit in the country is still considered timid and close to 20%.

The program was conceived by the Secretariat of Productivity and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy, led by Daniella Marques. This Tuesday, Palácio do Planalto also plans to launch other initiatives aimed at women – such as the Mothers of Brazil Program, run by the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights.

Bolsonaro counts on the rejection of 61% of women, according to the latest survey by Datafolha. According to the same survey, 55% of the female population evaluates the Bolsonaro government as bad or terrible.

Brasil pra Elas is one of the measures that are part of the credit package being prepared, which provides for between R$82 billion and R$100 billion in loans. The government intends to move the economy using the experience considered successful from the programs created during the pandemic, which lent R$ 63 billion to more than 850 thousand companies.

With no money in the budget, the idea of ​​Guedes’ team is to turn firepower to proposals that use funds to leverage credit – minimizing impacts on public accounts while seeking a positive agenda for the government.

One of the measures is the granting of financing to individual micro-entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium-sized companies through Pronampe (National Support Program for Micro and Small Businesses) and PEAC (Emergency Program for Access to Credit), two programs launched at the height of the crisis caused by Covid-19.

The government will allow the maintenance of resources invested in the guarantee funds of these programs until the end of 2023, which makes new operations possible without the need for the National Treasury to inject more money. Today, Pronampe is already permanent, but it is paralyzed by the exhaustion of available resources. The PEAC was closed at the end of 2020.

The package must still be reinforced by Fampe (Aval Fund for Micro and Small Enterprises), which will receive a contribution of around R$ 600 million from Sebrae.

Another proposal under discussion is to use a microcredit guarantee fund to promote small loans for entrepreneurs and informal workers, and may also include those who are not. The idea is to use between R$ 3 billion and R$ 3.5 billion from the FGTS (Service Time Guarantee Fund) to contribute to a fund for this purpose.

Not only credit will form the basis of the economic measures to be announced by the government in the coming days. For example, a 20% cut in Cide (Contribution for Intervention in the Economic Domain) on remittances abroad is being prepared.

The rate will increase from 10% to 8%, at a cost of R$ 1.6 billion for the federal coffers. The justification in this case is to reduce costs for companies that depend on imported services, which today, according to the Ministry of Economy, limits the modernization and competitiveness of the industry.

For workers, one of the most awaited measures is the release of a new round of FGTS withdrawals. as anticipated the sheet, around 40 million workers will be able to withdraw up to R$ 1 thousand from their accounts. The initiative should inject up to R$ 30 billion into the economy.

The government is also preparing a change in the Fundo Garantidor de Habitação Popular to expand access for low-income families to cheaper lines of credit for home ownership, as shown by the sheet.

In addition to simplifying the rules, the fund must also receive a contribution of resources from the FGTS to have greater firepower in granting guarantees. The value is still under discussion.

The government is also expected to announce a measure aimed at facilitating foreign trade. The Economy plans to allow the country’s current dry port companies (export and import terminals away from the sea) to gain a license for at least another 25 years to continue operating.

Several of the more than 60 units in existence today are expired or about to expire. Today, the law requires that these terminals go through a bidding process again.

As shown by sheet, the same type of measure was taken during the Dilma government (PT) and was even investigated on suspicion of having been ordered by a company. According to government officials, however, the initiative will not favor current companies because new companies interested in dry ports would gain ample flexibility to invest.