BNDES Lowers Interest on Credit Lines

Brazil’s BNDES plans to reduce interest rates on credit lines for companies to finance their working capital, according to local news and wire reports citing public remarks from bank president Luciano Coutinho. The measures aim to avoid a slowdown of the growth of Brazil’s economy, and follow reductions from several retail banks, as well as large cuts in the benchmark by the country’s central bank. Credit lines used by companies to finance working capital are seen coming at less than 7% per year, down from 9.5% currently.