Desenrola encourages late payments and goes against BC, says Vale

The Desenrola program, in its new version aimed at defaulters up to 90 days late, Fies graduates, informal workers and individual micro-entrepreneurs, was the target of criticism from economist Sérgio Vale, chief economist at MB Associados.

For him, the initiative creates an incentive to delay debt payments and goes against the country's current monetary policy.

Vale points out two paths of problems in the program.

The first is of a fiscal nature: the resources used are, to a large extent, of a parafiscal nature, using funds such as the FGO (Operations Guarantee Fund) and FGTS (Service Time Guarantee Fund).

"The Ministry of Finance has almost become an arm of this type of operation", stated the economist, comparing its current performance to that of the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) in previous governments.

The second problem highlighted by Vale is the so-called moral hazard. According to him, by rewarding those who delay installments with lower interest rates, the program discourages payment on time.

"If I delay any installment of the debt and am awarded a lower interest rate, what will the person pay on time?", he asked.

For the economist, the correct path would be to attack the structural causes of the high banking spread in Brazil, and not to offer short-term palliative solutions.

Vale also highlighted that the new Desenrola goes against the grain of monetary policy. While the Central Bank works to slow down credit and contain inflation, the government launches measures that stimulate consumption.

"The government is going against its own monetary policy," he said.

The economist highlighted that consumption continues to accelerate quarter by quarter, even with interest rates at high levels, which prevents monetary policy from producing the expected effects on inflation.

Another point of attention raised in the analysis concerns the participation of private banks. Febraban has already signaled that membership may be limited, which, according to Vale, tends to concentrate the role in public banks.

"There is a lot of doubt as to whether private banks will actually participate," he said.

For the economist, unlike the previous Desenrola - aimed at defaulters -, this new program offers fewer incentives to private banks, as debtors with delays of up to 90 days often resume payments without the need for renegotiation.

Regarding the Central Bank, Vale argued that the institution should be even more explicit in its communication about the impacts of the government's fiscal and parafiscal policies.

"He needs to be even more explicit in the next decision regarding the fiscal and parafiscal policies that the government is making", he said.

The economist concluded that excessive subsidies in the Brazilian economy contribute to keeping the basic interest rate and banking spread high, harming the consumer in the long term.

"What the government is doing now is a short-term palliative measure with electoral objectives", he concluded.

The texts generated by artificial intelligence on CNN Brasil are made based on video cuts from the newspapers in its programming. All information is investigated and checked by journalists. The final text is also reviewed by the CNN journalism team. Click here to find out more.

Source: CNN