When participating, this Monday (13), in the celebration of the 164 years of history of Caixa Econômica Federal, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva listed a series of the bank’s contributions to the implementation of public policies in the country, which guaranteed, to the most vulnerable sections of the population, access to basic rights, “in the construction of a more developed, fair, inclusive and happy Brazil”.
Lula participated in the event via video conference. “For 164 years, Caixa has worked for the Brazilian people. It was like that even in the darkest periods of our history, like slavery”, said the president, citing cases of enslaved people who were able to pay for their freedom after the bank authorized the opening of savings accounts, where their savings were saved.
“A century and a half later, we have the happiness of millions of Brazilians who can count on Caixa in the most important moments of their lives”, added the president, citing a series of public policies, such as Bolsa Família, Minha Casa Minha Vida, Pé-de-Meia and other programs aimed at student financing, infrastructure, entrepreneurship or food production, made possible with the help of the bank.
Lula also highlighted the role of the bank in alleviating the negative effects during times of financial crisis that crossed borders. “I remember that, without Caixa and the other public banks, we would not have turned into a mere ripple in the tsunami of the financial crisis that swept the world in 2008.”
“Not to mention the operational management of almost a thousand New PAC projects [Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento]with daycare centers, full-time schools, hospitals, maternity wards, polyclinics and other facilities that improve the quality of life of millions of people; and the resumption of almost 1,700 works that had been suspended; and in investments in sport and culture”, he added.
Among his memories, Lula said that there are special moments related to Caixa. One of these memories was during his first two terms, between 2003 and 2010, when 70 million people were ‘banked’ for the first time. “This was equivalent to the population, at the time, of Argentina and Colombia combined.”
Caixa’s president, Carlos Antônio Vieira Fernandes, also highlighted historical moments, in which the bank provided services to enslaved people, in 1884; to women, who from the 1920s onwards began to be allowed to work in banks; and, more recently, in the institution’s investments in Paralympic athletes, which contributed significantly to Brazil becoming a Paralympic sporting powerhouse.
“In addition, we are the only bank that is not closing branches. On the contrary, we are taking agencies to places in the country where there are no agencies”, he added.
