Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies.| Photo: Pablo Valadares/Chamber of Deputies

The Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday (1st) the provisional measure that increases from 4 to 6 years the payment term for loans from the National Support Program for Micro and Small Businesses (Pronampe). The MP will still be voted by the Senate.

Approved as a substitute for the rapporteur, Deputy Yury do Paredão (PL-CE), the MP also provides for a grace period of 12 months to start paying, reported Agência Câmara. The rapporteur maintained the maximum limit of interest rates currently applied, the Selic rate plus 6% per year for contracts signed from 2021.

However, in the same way that it already worked before the edition of the MP in the Bolsonaro government, the maximum applicable rate will be fixed by act of the Secretary of Micro and Small Companies and Entrepreneurship, a body now subordinate to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services.

The rapporteur also extended the payment period from 60 to 72 months in cases where the contracting company has been recognized by the Federal Executive with the Selo Emprega + Mulher. The deadline had not been modified by the original MP.

Pronampe was created in 2020 to help micro and small businesses in difficulties due to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The program, extended until December 2024 by Law 14,348/22, provides for the contracting of more than BRL 50 billion in credits this year and next.