BNDES employees react to insinuations from Bolsonaro and Montezano: "hard to swallow"

247 - BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) employees released a text this Friday (4) in reaction to insinuations made by Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the institution's president, Gustavo Montezano, in a live broadcast on social media on Thursday (27).

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It wasn't surprising, but it's necessary to share with colleagues how hard it was to swallow some of the statements made by the president of BNDES, Gustavo Montezano, during the weekly live broadcast of the president of the republic, Jair Bolsonaro, which took place last Thursday, January 27, 2022.

Montezano has been at BNDES for two and a half years. He arrived at the bank with the task of "opening its black box," a generic term for alleged irregularities that supposedly occurred in previous administrations. Montezano, however, found that these irregularities do not exist. For all the accusations made, BNDES and its employees presented the reasons and the precautions taken, demonstrating that the bank's operation is always guided by technical rigor and integrity. For this reason, Bolsonaro himself acknowledged in 2021 that there was no such "black box."

This, however, was not enough to stop Bolsonaro from making insinuations against the BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) for electoral purposes. It's awful that the president of the republic would do this, even if it could be said to be something natural in politics. But how can one justify this behavior from someone who has been at the head of the BNDES for so long?

Montezano said, for example: “How do you explain that 3 billion reais went to Cuba, there was a default, and nothing illegal happened? It's very strange.” The president of BNDES also stated that “the chance of recovering those funds is very low.”

The insinuation contains serious errors. It's worth highlighting a few.

First, the most obvious point: any bank's operation carries the risk of default. A "default" does not imply the existence of an illegality.

Secondly, loans to countries are generally less risky than those made to companies. The reason is that, unlike companies, countries don't go bankrupt. They may face balance of payments difficulties and delay debt payments, but they resume payments as soon as they can. Priority is given to debts with other countries – and not with private creditors – as this is crucial for normalizing the conditions of their international transactions. Of course, to receive payment as quickly as possible, a creditor country needs to want to establish healthy and pragmatic diplomatic relations with the defaulting debtor.

Montezano also stated that the National Treasury will bear the burden of a US$1,5 billion "default" related to financing for Brazilian exports of goods and engineering services. Montezano omitted the fact that the Treasury received premiums from the countries and companies that contracted financing for their imports from Brazil for the insurance granted, paid by the importers themselves. These premiums, collected mostly well before the occurrence of delays and defaults, total US$1,46 billion from their creation until 2021, an amount greater than the indemnities paid, which totaled US$1,36 billion, as available on the BNDES portal.[2]not counting the possibility of a full recovery.

The demonization of support for Brazilian exports of high value-added goods was yet another lie fabricated against the BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank), which greatly harms Brazil. All developed countries and developing countries with greater capacity have public systems to support their exports.

It's no coincidence. Exporting means generating jobs, income, and foreign exchange, boosting the domestic economy and helping to maintain sustained growth, which is crucial for solving internal problems, such as those related to infrastructure. In the case of Brazil and BNDES, this support is provided exclusively for expenses on goods and services produced in the country or by Brazilians.

Montezano also called the transactions contracted with JBS "strange." This insinuation contradicts an international audit conducted at the request of the BNDES Board of Directors, starting during the Temer administration and finalized under the current management, which concluded that nothing irregular occurred in these transactions.

In his eagerness to help Bolsonaro, Montezano cast suspicion on the BNDES itself and its employees, who implemented public policies legitimately approved by the constitutional powers of the time.

Montezano clearly has every right to disagree with the public policies of other governments. However, it is serious to try to transform a difference of opinion into a police matter, further inciting the zeal of oversight bodies, which for years have been initiating abusive administrative proceedings and even criminal investigations against hundreds of worthy colleagues. It's difficult to keep pretending that everything is alright.

Signed by:

Bruno Galvão dos Santos.

Carla Reis de Sousa Neto.

John Barbosa de Oliveira.

Marcelo Trindade Miterhof.

Maurício Busnello Furtado.

Rodrigo Melo e Silva de Oliveira e Cruz.

Rodrigo Pedrosa Daltro Santos.

Silvia Naomi Torii.

Thiago Rabelo Pereira.

Vitor Paiva Pimentel.

*They are employees of BNDES.

** [2] https://www.bndes.gov.br/wps/portal/site/home/transparencia/consulta-operacoes-bndes/contratos-exportacao-bens-servicos-engenharia

(This text was produced by BNDES employees, some of whom are signatories here, for their colleagues at the bank. The relevance of the topic to the country led to its publication.)

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