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BRASILIA, June 17 (Reuters) – Brazil’s government backs a rural debt renegotiation program but wants it more targeted, the Finance Ministry said on \u200cWednesday.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a congressional hearing after the Senate approved a sweeping \u200caid bill offering subsidized credit to the sector, Finance Minister Dario Durigan said the government aims \u200bto be “constructive” to curb the proposal’s fiscal cost.<\/p>\n
The current bill implies about 140 billion reais ($27.68 billion) in Treasury subsidies over 13 years, he said, which the government sees as excessive as it covers a broad range of cases beyond climate \u200cshocks, including general economic \u2060difficulties.<\/p>\n
The bill now moves to the lower house.<\/p>\n
Durigan added that 95% of agribusiness in Latin America’s largest economy remains healthy, \u2060citing a 5-6% delinquency rate in rural lending at state-run Banco do Brasil, the sector’s biggest player.<\/p>\n
“There is no scorched-earth scenario in agribusiness in terms of widespread \u200bdefaults,” he \u200bsaid.<\/p>\n
CONSUMER DEBTS<\/p>\n
Durigan said the Desenrola consumer debt \u200brenegotiation program recently relaunched by \u200cPresident Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva has already covered about one-third of eligible liabilities.<\/p>\n
The program, which offers federal guarantees to help households refinance debt at lower rates, has renegotiated between 20 billion and 30 billion reais ($4 to $5.9 billion) so far, out of an estimated 80 billion to 90 billion reais in \u200celigible debt.<\/p>\n
According to the minister, a new phase \u200bwill be launched soon targeting consumers who \u200bare current on their obligations, \u200bunlike earlier versions focused on delinquent borrowers.<\/p>\n
Durigan also said the \u200cgovernment will raise the eligibility ceiling for \u200bthe simplified tax \u200bregime for micro-entrepreneurs, known as MEI.<\/p>\n
Separately, he confirmed the government would scrap subsidies on diesel and gasoline if oil prices stabilize at a \u200blower level as tensions involving \u200cIran ease, adding that such a scenario would also remove the \u200bneed for the country’s temporary oil export tax.<\/p>\n
($1 = 5.0579 reais)<\/p>\n
(Reporting \u200bby Marcela Ayres; Editing by Aurora Ellis)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n