It's naive to think about reindustrializing Brazil without the State, says Mercadante.

247 - The president of the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Aloizio Mercadante, defended the participation of the Brazilian state – through public banks – in the reindustrialization process. The intention, he says, is to provide credit lines that can foster companies capable of competing on equal footing with the United States and the European Union.

“We cannot accept the argument that Brazil cannot reindustrialize. That was the case for four centuries, when we were commodity exporters tied to the old colonial regime. We can have, and have had, a diversified industrial base,” Mercadante emphasized. 

The statement was made at the seminar “Sustainable Development Strategies for the 21st Century”, promoted by the bank at its headquarters in Rio.

According to Mercadante, "the relationship between BNDES, Fiesp, and CNI is here to stay." He also stated that "we need interest rates for innovation; BNDES cannot use the TLP for innovation. We are proposing that the CMN establish limits. The bank cannot have a single interest rate, at least not the same rates that the Treasury uses for financing," he affirmed.