On Tuesday (31), a delegation of six Finnish congresspeople met with members of five committees at the Chamber of Deputies to discuss the global financial crisis, environment and energy. The visitors were especially interested in the situation of Brazilian economy regarding the economic scenario.

Finland is very worried about the crisis, since that country has a small domestic market – of only 5,000,000 inhabitants – and strongly depends on exports. For Mika Lintikä, the head of the Finnish delegation, “protectionist attitudes will not be the solution for the global crisis: measures for strengthening the supervision of the global financial system and restoring the investors’ confidence should be taken”.

After one week in Brazil, the visiting deputies said they had had a very positive impression of Brazilian economy, whose diversification favors the position of that country. “We were surprised by the positive attitude and by the capacity of Brazil to face the crisis”, affirmed Lintikä

Banking sector
The Finnish asked their Brazilian colleagues about the measures taken by Brazil to face the crisis. Especially regarding the banking sector, they asked about the need of government’s help to guarantee the position of the banks and on legislative measures to reinforce the control on the financial market.

Deputy Edmilson Valentim (PCdoB-RJ),from the Committee on Economic Development, Industry and Commerce, outlined the measures taken against the crisis in three fronts: the encouragement to the broadening of the internal credit, encouraged by the existence of three large public banks – Banco do Brasil Bank, Federal Savings Bank and Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES); disencumbering of the production costs, as it happened with the automobile industry; and investments in infrastructure, such as the program for the construction of 1,000,000 popular houses, which is part of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). However, according to the deputy, “the banks are still reluctant about granting loans to the productive sector, and prefer to invest in public titles”.

Deputy Marcos Montes (DEM-MG) stressed that “things are not 100%”. For the congressman, tax disencumbering measures have negative impacts on the municipal finances. And he reminded that the good situation of the banks is mainly due to the measures taken by the former government, which “at that time, were not well understood by the society”, referring to the Program for the Encouragement of the Restructuring of the National Financial System (Prier).

Participation
The meeting also counted with the presence of the Finnish Ambassador in Brazil, Ilpo Ilmare Manninen, and of the First Secretary of the Embassy, Ville Cantel, and of deputies from the Committees on Economic Development, Industry and Commerce; on Science and Technology, Communication and Computer Science; and on Mines and Energy; on the Amazon, National Integration and Regional Development; and on the Environment and Regional Development.

Report - Rejane Xavier
Editing - Marcos Rossi
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda