In another nod to the popular classes with government measures five months before the election in which he will seek re-election, President Lula signed yesterday, in São Paulo, a provisional measure (MP) that opens a line of credit with special conditions — with interest rates below market rates — for taxi drivers and app drivers to buy or exchange their vehicles for work.
The MP was signed at an event full of political leaders, including former ministers who will contest the São Paulo elections, specially prepared for Lula to present Move Brasil Táxi e APPos, a special vehicle financing program for taxi drivers and digital platform drivers.
In addition to the political rapprochement with categories with which he had been having difficulties in dialoging, see the wreck of the government’s attempt to regulate work through applications, Lula also made another significant move with the launch of Move Brasil subsidized credit yesterday.
The program is a step further in BNDES’ expansion strategy. Since PT’s return to Planalto, in 2023, the bank had been using existing Union financial funds to grant more loans, including at interest rates below market rates.
Now, Move Brasil Taxi and Applications is the third recent measure that uses “transfers” from the Treasury. In three programs announced by the government and operated by BNDES, the Treasury committed to investing a total of R$62.5 billion.
The great expansion of BNDES under previous PT governments was guaranteed by contributions from the Treasury. From 2009 to 2014, it was R$441 billion. The trigger was the countercyclical policies to face the 2008 global financial crisis, but the expansion persisted — and was criticized by economists who pointed to distortions in public accounts and the Central Bank’s (BC) interest policy as consequences.
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New, more measured format
The former Minister of Finance and current director of Planning and Institutional Relations at BNDES, Nelson Barbosa, told GLOBO that the format is now different and that there has been “learning” in relation to previous experiences.
Now, the transfers are different, said sources from the economic team interviewed by GLOBO. The resources are not invested directly at BNDES at once. They are segregated in the Single Treasury Account and are sent as the bank disburses for approved loans.
Furthermore, transfers do not necessarily involve the issuance of Treasury bonds, which helps to avoid an expansion of public debt. Most of the programs are temporary, and interest rates are less incentivized than in the previous expansion, that is, they are not that far below market rates. In other words, they require equalization with lower public resources.
In transfers from 2009 to 2014, the Treasury issued bonds and delivered them to BNDES with each contribution, increasing public debt. This inflated the bank’s cash flow and profits, which increased the transfer of dividends to the Union, helping to meet the public accounts target.
The practice was considered part of “creative accounting” in the Dilma Rousseff governments on which her impeachment request was based. And the interest rates on financed lines were well below market rates, reducing the effectiveness of the Central Bank’s basic interest rate (Selic) on inflation.
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Economists critical of the BNDES expansion recognize that the incentives of the development bank’s current advance are smaller and less disruptive to the BC’s interest rate policy than in the past, but, even so, they argue that this type of financial solution hinders the conduct of monetary policy. The scale is smaller, but the share of BNDES credit with interest incentives jumped 82% from 2023 to 2025, as O GLOBO recently showed.
‘There was a learning experience’
The director of Planning and Institutional Relations at BNDES, Nelson Barbosa, defended the current strategy:
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— There has been learning from the past, so much so that these new programs are designed in a way that does not generate profit for BNDES. The BNDES correctly returns the resources, which do not generate profits or dividends (for the Treasury).
One of the imbalances caused by the expansion of the BNDES in past PT governments has to do with the so-called “implicit subsidies”. The bonds issued to be deposited at the bank paid high interest, close to the Selic (the basic rate set by the BC, currently at 14.5% per year). The BNDES returned the values to the Treasury, in the long term, corrected at rates below the reference rate.
This difference represents expenses with “net interest” on public debt, in nominal accounts — which, unlike the “primary” account, accounts for expenses with interest and debt. Faced with criticism of the previous expansion, in 2015, during the second Dilma government, a law began to require the calculation of this cost, for the amounts contributed from 2009 to 2014.
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In 2025, this cost was R$1.4 billion. In the accumulated since 2009, it totaled R$ 267.7 billion, in updated values. This implicit subsidy also exists in the current strategy of transfers via the Single Treasury Account. As the difference between the interest rates of the new programs and the Selic Rate is smaller, this cost tends to be lower. Barbosa guaranteed that these implicit expenses will be calculated and disclosed:
— There is a justified charge to know the cost of these programs. The BNDES has been calculating and is in discussion with the TCU (Federal Audit Court). We will present costs and returns, financial and non-financial, of the programs.
In the presentation of the financial results for the first quarter, the BNDES reported that it contracted studies, together with universities, to estimate the costs implicit in six initiatives backed by financial funds from the Union. According to Barbosa, the first calculation reports should be delivered at the end of this year.
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What will the conditions of Move Brasil be like?
According to the government, interest rates should be defined by the National Monetary Council (CMN), later this week, with more advantageous conditions for women expected. However, the president of BNDES, Aloizio Mercadante, said yesterday that it should be 12.6% per year for men and 11.5% per year for women.
These rates are lower than the basic interest rate (Selic), currently at 14.5% per year. These will be loans subsidized by the government so that they result in a lower final cost for the borrower compared to vehicle financing available today in banks.
President Lula stated that the payments will be lower than the daily rates that many drivers pay today to drive rented cars. The PT member also stated that the conditions provided for in “Move Brasil” should represent around half the cost of vehicle rental currently paid by many workers in the transport and delivery segments.
He highlighted that the difference for the worker who will take out the loan is that the vehicle becomes “his property, which will remain with his family and can be sold when he wants to change profession”.
How will drivers be able to access credit?
The program promises special conditions for taxi drivers and app drivers at a time of high interest rates and growing debt among Brazilians.
The government intends to release R$30 billion for this financing through BNDES, starting yesterday. The contracting will be done through accredited financial institutions, that is, commercial banks that transfer BNDES resources in the so-called indirect operations of the development institution.
In this case, the risk of the operations lies with the bank that grants the financing. This means that interested drivers should look for commercial banks accredited to operate Mover Brasil lines with resources from BNDES. These banks will approve the loan or not.
In principle, the operation should not have express access restrictions for defaulters, but the risk must be assumed by the banking network. Banks, which will ultimately authorize financing, will be able to refuse borrowers who have a “bad name”, but in a competitive environment in which another bank may agree to do so.
The government hopes to serve around 250,000 people with the program and, indirectly, stimulate the country’s automotive industry.
What will be the conditions?
Drivers will be able to finance new vehicles of any nature, as long as they are flex, hybrid or electric, for a total value of up to R$150,000, with a six-month grace period and installment payments over 72 months, that is, six years to pay.
In Planalto’s calculations, 60% of the market’s vehicle supply falls within the limit of up to R$150,000 for new vehicles, which allows the acquisition of more sophisticated standard cars, a prerequisite for more profitable races, including electric models.
There will be more advantageous conditions for women. According to the president of BNDES, Aloizio Mercadante, the financing rate should be 12.6% per year for men and 11.5% per year for women. The government says this will still be defined this week.
Who can take the loan?
Service providers on platforms such as Uber, 99 and iFood will now have a line of credit at subsidized interest for the purchase or exchange of vehicles, as long as they have made at least 100 trips within a year.
The cutoff point, which represents more or less two races per week, is an attempt by the government to restrict the program to people who are habitual in the profession, even if they do not work every day. There is concern about avoiding registrations by drivers only interested in cheaper credit after launch.
End of minimum age of 21
The MP also removes the mandatory theoretical course and minimum age of 21 years to provide motorcycle freight services, that is, the activity carried out by motorcycle couriers and couriers who use motorcycles as a work tool. The requirement was set out in a 2009 federal law, sanctioned by the PT member himself, in his second term.
Now, all you need to do is be 18 years old, the minimum age for a driver’s license. As this is a provisional measure, the new rules come into force immediately. However, they must be confirmed by Congress within 120 days. If it is rejected or not voted on during this period, the MP loses its validity.
At the event in São Paulo, Lula was accompanied by former ministers Simone Tebet (PSB) and Marina Silva (Rede), pre-candidates for the Senate, and Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency.
Both the subsidized interest rates and the end of part of the requirements are part of the same provisional measure, signed by the president yesterday.
In other nods to liberal and self-employed professionals linked to transport, Lula promised the installation of rest points for truck drivers on all Brazilian roads, in addition to proposing a check-up plan through specialists from the public health network so that “no one drives while sick”.
According to Boulos, professionals from the Unified Health System (SUS) must also adopt the “work accident” classification when providing emergency care to workers.
