Government articulates plans to make credit reach small businesses

The Secretary of Economic Policy of the Ministry of Economy, Adolfo Sachsida, said on Monday (8) that the government articulates a "plan B" and a "plan C" to make credit reach micro and small companies.
Sachsida gave the statement by participating, through virtual means, in an event organized by the International Chamber of Commerce.
In the midst of the crisis in the economy, caused by the pandemic of the new coronavirus, the government issued a provisional measure to guarantee credit to companies, the so-called National Program to Support Microenterprises and Small Businesses (Pronampe).
"There are other measures that will surely come out. I will make it clear, this is a collection of Minister Paulo Guedes, credit has to reach micro and small companies. We're very attentive to that. We are also working on a plan B and a plan C," Sachsida said on Monday.
According to him, the "plan A" includes Pronampe, the Investment Guarantee Fund (FGI) and the Emergency Employment Support Program (Pese).
According to Sachsida, the measures taken by the government to "irrigate the credit market" have been "successful", but demand has increased "a lot".
Sachsida also argued that the credit reaches entrepreneurs more simply and that, in the case of micro-enterprises, the National Treasury guarantees 100% of the operation.
"The design for me is simple: it is to appear a message on the machine of any seller. Here's a message: 'Do you want a month's billing from your credit company now?' Press 1 for 'yes' and 2 for 'no'. Squeezed one, boom, the money's in the guy's account. That's how, for me, credit gets to the tip," he said.
The secretary pondered, however, that in practice the operations are more complex.
"In the case of microenterprises I think [the guarantee] should be 100% treasury. At the moment, any risk to the bank will lead to the higher interest rate," he said.
Speaking at the same event, The Central Bank's Director of Regulation, Otávio Ribeiro Damaso, said that the situation of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises is "more dramatic" because, according to him, the demand for credit increased between 200% and 300% in these segments.
Damaso then pointed out that the increase causes the "feeling" that lacks credit.
"When you look at micro, small and medium-sized enterprises the situation is more dramatic. The demand for credit grew 200%, 300%, according to a survey by Sebrae, and even the financial system granting 10%, 20%, 30% more credit for this segment in this period, given the growth in demand of 300% is the feeling that is missing credit for this segment", he said.
Commenting on the performance of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) in financing, Adolfo Sachsida argued that the National Treasury participate more to prevent the bankruptcy of companies. According to him, it is necessary to maintain the productive base of large and small companies.
"I honestly sign underneath that the Treasury had to take on a significant part of these guarantees. Honestly, in the environment we're in today, you're going to have to lose money to maintain the productive base. It's safer to lose a little bit now and keep the base than to hold the money now and have a general breaker in two, three months," he said.
Sachsida also said that the layoffs are not greater because the government launched the program of suspension and reduction of the contract, with compensation paid by the Treasury.