Brazil's Chamber of Deputies approved on Monday (31) a provisional measure making up to 30 billion reais available in credit lines for ride-hailing app drivers, taxi drivers, taxi cooperatives and school transport drivers to buy new vehicles that meet sustainability criteria. The bill now goes to the Senate.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued the measure in June as an extension of the Move Brasil program, whose credit lines were not fully used, according to G1. Chamber Speaker Hugo Motta defended the vote. "All the effort to get this provisional measure voted was aimed at giving these professionals, these drivers, the chance to access fairer credit, with subsidized interest," he said.
How the credit will work
The lines will be offered by BNDES, Brazil's national development bank, along with state-owned Banco do Brasil and Caixa Econômica Federal, or by institutions accredited by them. The text allows the Operations Guarantee Fund (FGO) to back the loans: the guarantee can cover up to 100% of each operation, capped at 50% of each bank's guaranteed portfolio.
According to CNN Brasil, the National Monetary Council (CMN) will set rates, terms and grace periods, and may establish better conditions for women drivers. Each paid transport driver will have access to one vehicle; in taxi cooperatives, the limit is one car per member. The credit can also finance insurance and safety equipment for women.
The Finance and Industry, Trade and Services ministries will define which vehicles qualify, based on "environmental, social or economic sustainability criteria," the text says. Two weeks before the vote, the presidential palace raised the financing ceiling per vehicle from 150,000 to 200,000 reais. According to BNDES, the program has already approved more than 1 billion reais in loans, with an average of about 102,000 reais as of July.
The measure now depends on the Senate. In Brazil, a provisional measure takes effect immediately upon issuance, but Congress must approve it for the rules to become permanent law.