With high Selic, Sebrae puts an end to the plan to open a bank – 05/21/2023 – Panel SA

Defeated PT candidate for the government of Santa Catarina in the last election, Décio Lima took over the presidency of Sebrae (Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Companies) a month ago due to Lula’s interference.

The representative asked his predecessor, Carlos Melles, to make room for the PT to command the body. Under the new management, it will offer credit with low interest rates, a way to stimulate the economy and put pressure on the BC to cut the Selic rate, currently at 13.75% per annum.

What will be Sebrae’s role in the face of credit retraction? We consolidated 85% of jobs, 99% of companies, and 30% of GDP. We are going to offer a credit alternative, which today faces an obstacle with the Central Bank maintaining the highest interest rates in the world. This runs counter to any sensible growth policy. It is perverse especially for small entrepreneurs. Taking credit in this environment is subjecting them to bankruptcy.

What will they do? Guarantee funds. With Finep [Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos] is ready. We will invest R$80 million and she will invest R$50 million. With this resource, we offer BRL 1 billion in microcredit at very low rates, 2.5% per year. With the BNDES, the agenda is bigger.

How will it be? We have a credit bank, still without BC approval to operate, with R$ 600 million in cash. We will use this money and, together with about R$1 billion coming from the BNDES, we will create another fund to lend more than R$10 billion. In this modality, each real backs up to R$ 12 in credit. We are looking for a way out at Sebrae, while the BC does not serve Brazil’s interests.

So will the bank that wasn’t even opened close? Yes. The bank is unfeasible with this Selic.

Will you need Congress? No. It already has an approved regulatory framework [para os fundos].

Was it an orientation given by Lula to force a drop in interest rates? Everything is within the government’s line of thought: to generate jobs.

Do you also consider that the BC keeps interest rates high for political reasons? I have no doubt. Furthermore, the BC violates the principles of our sovereignty. It is an unjustifiable market aggression.

Mr. Do you defend the change of the president of BC? I cannot customize. I don’t even know him [Roberto Campos Netto]. But interest rates of this nature make our country unfeasible and leave people hungry and in misery for a long time.

X-ray

Training: lawyer graduated from the University of Vale do Itajaí (SC)
Career: Councilor in Itajaí (1993-1997), Mayor of Blumenau (1997-2005), federal deputy for the PT (2007-2019). He disputed the government of SC, in 2022, but was defeated

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