Occhi says he will resume stalled works on the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program.

247 - The new president of Caixa Econômica Federal, Gilberto Occhi, stated that the institution will "immediately" resume construction on 80 residential units of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program that are currently stalled. According to him, a meeting with the Minister of Cities, Bruno Araújo, to discuss the matter is already scheduled for next week.

"We're going to put our foot on the gas, resume investments, and accelerate what's possible to do," he said in an interview shortly after taking office in Brasília. According to Occhi, the recovery will also extend to other projects that were stalled due to the uncertainty surrounding the institution's leadership.

According to the new president of Caixa, most of the 80,000 housing units belong to the program's first income bracket, which is aimed at families with a monthly income of up to R$ 1,800.

He also reaffirmed Caixa's willingness to release up to R$ 91 billion in mortgage financing, a similar amount to that recorded last year.

Read more about Caixa in the article below. 

Caixa says it does not need a capital injection from the government this year.

Reuters - The new president of Caixa Econômica Federal, Gilberto Occhi, said on Wednesday that he sees no need for a capital injection from the federal government, its controlling shareholder, in 2016, and cited accelerated credit, new investments, and the pursuit of efficiency as priorities for his administration.

"This year we don't need, we don't foresee any need for capital injections," Occhi told reporters after his inauguration ceremony at the Planalto Palace.

He said that Caixa has alternatives so that it does not need an injection of funds from the Union, neither "in the short term nor in the medium term".

On the table are studies regarding a potential initial public offering (IPO) of Caixa's insurance, instant lottery, and credit card businesses, with the latter considered a more remote possibility, according to Occhi.

After examining the operations of the state-owned bank in recent days, Occhi said he found the situation to be "generally normal."

"What we will have to work on is accelerating what is possible to accelerate in terms of granting credit and new investments. And also improving work that Caixa has been developing for some years, which is improving its efficiency," he added.

(By Marcela Ayres)