The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, informed, this Friday (18), that the government should use R$ 150 million from the Operations Guarantee Fund (FGO) to create a line of credit for small companies affected by the blackout in the metropolitan region of São Paulo.
The provisional measure to formalize the release of resources must be signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva before his trip to Russia, next week, so that the money will be available from Monday (21).
In total, 380 thousand companies in Greater São Paulo should benefit. In the case of FGO, proof will be required that the company suffered damages caused by the most recent power outage.
The Minister of Entrepreneurship, Microenterprise and Small Businesses, Márcio França, explained that the FGO money does not come from the National Treasury. “We already have FGO on loan from Pronampe [Programa Nacional de Apoio às Microempresas e Empresas de Pequeno Porte] R$100 billion and, every month, people give back a piece of it. Default rates at Pronampe are around 7%, 8%. Therefore, 92%, 93% of people are returning this money, and it feeds back on itself”, he said.
According to Márcio França, in Rio Grande do Sul, 38 thousand companies in Greater Porto Alegre and Vale do Taquari closed their doors. “We have already reopened 31 thousand. And we reopened with a different loan. We lend 100 and the person leaves the bank owing 60, to pay in two years”, highlighted the minister. In São Paulo, it should work along the same lines and, with the deadline set, the company will have zero interest or even “negative interest” to pay off the debt, he added.
The federal government will also extend the deadline for regularizing debts contracted with Pronampe. The extension may be up to 60 days and will not require proof, as is the case with the FGO.
Not valid for individuals
According to Haddad, the measure does not apply to individuals who suffered losses, losing, for example, household appliances due to the blackout. “For economic activity, there was no line of financing,” explained the minister, stressing that the resources will be allocated to small companies affected by the blackout.
Asked by journalists whether the decision could not be interpreted as the government taking responsibility for the blackout, the minister said no and that “there is nothing exceptional” about employing a certain resource in a circumstance for which it was designed. “Nothing was done by these people. We haven’t taken any action for a week,” he replied.
“We carried out an analysis, Pronampe resources were available, it is money that was in a private, public fund, which has this objective, which is to respond in case of emergency.”
Regarding the incentive that the federal government should give to smaller companies to increase the volume of exports, Haddad pointed out that it is also “a security issue”. “Because, generally, when a small company exports, it is manufactured”, highlighted the minister. He added that the government is now thinking about offering better conditions regarding export insurance and reimbursement of tax credits. The rule that must establish that the company returns a certain percentage of the sale.
