SAO PAULO/BRASILIA, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Finance Minister Dario Durigan said on Friday that specific credit lines could be unveiled by the government for companies affected by a consumer tax reform and the end of the six-day work schedule, which take effect next year.
In an interview with Band TV, Durigan added that the lines would aim to boost training, innovation, and productivity in the country.
• Durigan spoke two days after Brazil’s Senate approved a constitutional amendment to reduce the country’s workweek from six days to five.
• The new rule will take effect by the end of next year after a 14-month transition, while a consumer tax reform approved in 2023 will also take effect in 2027.
• The minister acknowledged that some companies will be affected by the labor reform, but said he sees the impact as “minor”.
• “Business owners need government support to be part of this new era,” Durigan said.
• He also said that Brazil’s high interest rates remain a problem to be tackled if President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wins a new term in an presidential runoff later this month.
• Lula will face Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in a second-round vote on October 25, with the leftist incumbent currently trailing the right-wing lawmaker in polls.
(Reporting by Fernando Cardoso in Sao Paulo and Marcela Ayres in Brasilia; Editing by Chris Reese and Iñigo Alexander)
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