April 17, 2009
Brazil government to offer US$4.58 billion in credit for agribusiness; ailing meatpacking sector
Brazil's government will offer 10 billion Brazilian reals in credit through its BNDES National Development Bank to support activities in agribusiness, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said Thursday (April 16).
Mantega said the funds would go mostly to support the country's ailing meatpacking sector and would be offered at an interest rate of 11.25 percent annually.
The measure, the latest of a series of government initiatives to boost local credit circulation, was approved Thursday in an extraordinary meeting of the National Monetary Council.
Brazil's meatpacking industry has been particularly hard hit by falling demand during a slowdown of the global economy.
