The National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) recorded a total net profit of R$19 billion, between January and September 2024, which represents a growth of 31.4% compared to the R$14.4 billion recorded in the same period of 2023. The bank’s credit portfolio reached, in the first nine months of 2024, R$550.3 billion, the highest since December 2017.
The results were presented by the bank this Monday (11), in a press conference, which is available online. BNDES is the federal government’s main instrument for long-term financing and investment in the various segments of the Brazilian economy.
Credits
According to the balance sheet presented, the expanded credit portfolio, which covers financing, debentures and other credit assets, reached the amount of R$550.3 billion on September 30, 2024, 6.8% above the value recorded in December 2023. As a result, the portfolio now represents 68.2% of total assets.
Credit approvals by the bank grew in all sectors in the first nine months of 2024, reaching R$137.4 billion, which represents an increase of 39% compared to the same period in 2023 and 108% compared to 2022.
Credits for industry showed the highest growth, 108% compared to 2023, reaching R$37 billion. There was an expansion of 263% compared to the same period in 2022, when approvals totaled R$10.2 billion.
In agriculture, credit approvals totaled R$35.1 billion, an increase of 15.5% over 2023 and 49% compared to 2022, which was R$23.5 billion.
In the infrastructure sector, approvals totaled R$40.8 billion, an increase of 8.6% compared to 2023 and 92% over 2022, with R$21.2 billion.
In the commerce and services sector, approvals from January to September totaled R$24.5 billion, an increase of 87% compared to 2023 and 122% over the same period in 2022, with R$11 billion.
For micro, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs), credit approvals totaled R$64.9 billion, an increase of 45.5% compared to the first nine months of 2023 and an increase of 69.5% compared to the same period in 2022. with R$38.3 billion.
Assets and profits
The total assets of the BNDES System totaled R$807.1 billion on September 30, 2024, an increase of R$74.6 billion, which represents 10.2% more compared to December 2023. According to the bank, this is mainly due to the increase of R$35.3 billion in the expanded credit portfolio and R$42.8 billion in bonds and securities, due to inflows of resources from the National Fund for Change Climate and National Treasury (BNDES Emergency Program for Rio Grande do Sul), in addition to resources from the Workers’ Support Fund (FAT).
In relation to profits, the BNDES recorded a total net profit of R$19 billion, a value 31.4% higher than the R$14.4 billion recorded in the same period of 2023. The recurring net profit was R$9.8 billion , an increase of 48.5% compared to the same period in 2023, with R$6.6 billion. Recurring net profit is adjusted for non-recurring effects.
Given the results, the bank will pay R$25 billion in dividends to the National Treasury.
Public accounts
The president of BNDES, Aloizio Mercadante, highlighted the positive results and reinforced that the bank is contributing to the adjustment of Brazilian public accounts. “Our commitment was to build a new BNDES and it is being built,” he said. “We are making R$19 billion in profit, but we are sending R$25 billion in dividends to the Treasury. It is a great effort that we are making to contribute to budget balance and reduce debt for the country, BNDES is committed.”
Faced with a scenario of budget adjustment in Brazil, Mercadante defended the maintenance of investments, as a way of ensuring the country’s growth: “Brazil needs to have sustainability in public accounts, it needs to preserve investment in the budget, it needs to have a more predictable trajectory of expenses mandatory in order to maintain public investment because it is essential for growth.”
The president of BNDES also highlighted the bank’s role in relation to the climate crisis. BNDES received R$10 billion from the National Climate Change Fund (FNMC), allocated to the Climate Fund Program to finance projects aimed at mitigating and adapting to climate change and its effects.
These effects are already being felt. Mercadante explained that, until September this year, credit for agriculture was lower than that approved for industry, due to a series of climate effects such as prolonged droughts and floods in Rio Grande do Sul.
“This is the scenario we are going to live in, increasingly intense and recurring natural disasters,” he stated. Given this scenario, according to Mercadante, BNDES seeks to create a unit to anticipate and facilitate responses to disasters.
“We do not have an intelligence structure for reconstruction with resilience and adaptation, taking advantage of more efficient technologies, re-discussing urban space in some situations and rethinking regional development. We need strategic intelligence with a ready response and we are creating a unit at BNDES just for that,” he said.
