In June of this year, the Union had to use almost R$ 1.36 billion from the public coffers to pay overdue debts from states that obtained financial loans with the Union as their guarantor.
According to the Report on Guarantees Honored by the Union, which the National Treasury Secretariat released today (7), of the total spent just last month, R$ 709.93 million are related to default in Rio de Janeiro; R$518.77 million from Minas Gerais; R$77.58 million from Goiás and R$49.85 million from Rio Grande do Sul.
The amount paid in June represents more than double the R$ 637.43 million that the Union used in May of this year to pay off arrears of federal entities. As guarantor of loans, the Union has already used, since January of this year, around R$ 4.62 billion to honor loans that the states made to finance their public policies.
In a page created on the internet to explain the so-called Honorable Guarantees, the National Treasury says that it is common that, in order to lend money to states, municipalities or even state-owned companies, financial agents demand guarantees that, in case of default, the Union will pay part or the entire debt.
“This is the moment when the debt discomfort, in fact, reaches the Union and, quite likely, the people. When the borrower cannot pay, the Union, as guarantor of this loan, is obliged to honor the financial commitments assumed by the borrower, the borrower, with the creditor, the borrower. It is what we call warranty honors”, explains the text.
Also according to the text of the National Treasury, if, on the one hand, the financial loan increases the investment capacity of public entities, on the other hand, the indebtedness can compromise future actions, given the commitments assumed with the debt. “When governments begin to have difficulty meeting their commitments, it is a first warning sign that a problem may be occurring with the finances of your city, your state, or a state-owned company. And the lack of resources brings unpleasant consequences for you [cidadão].”
The first time the Federal Government had to honor the payment of a guaranteed debt was in April 2016, when the state of Rio de Janeiro failed to pay an installment of BRL 30.2 million related to a loan contracted with the Agency. French Development. A little over five years later, the Union has already disbursed R$ 46.53 billion to honor guarantees granted to credit operations, according to the National Treasury. And Rio de Janeiro, which had R$ 28.51 billion related to defaults honored by the Union, was the main beneficiary, followed by Minas Gerais (R$ 11.98 billion) and Goiás (R$ 3.30 billion).
In order to obtain approval from the Union for contracting loans, states must not only demonstrate future capacity to pay off their debts, but also meet a series of conditions. However, due to preliminary decisions of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the Union is prevented from executing counter-guarantees in the case of some federative units.
“The proliferation of these injunctions weakens the guarantee system, to the point of encouraging borrowers not to comply with their obligations and, consequently, to persist in the disarray of their accounts”, maintains the National Treasury Secretariat on the aforementioned page. “The Union, in addition to losing the instrument to safeguard the guarantee granted, is forced to bear the cascading effect of the use of this expedient by more and more borrowers.”
