Brasília, April 11, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Brazilian government will have recourse to international bankers to reinforce lines of export credit. This information was provided by the Minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan.

According to Furlan, the Minister of Finance, Antônio Palocci, and the President of the Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles, will use their trip to the United States - where they are participating in the Annual Spring Forum of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington - to negotiate new injections of credit to assure greater stamina to the Brazilian lines of export finance.

Another option cited by the Minister to increase credit lines is to hunt resources in other areas of the government. According to him, there exists the possibility that the Minister of Labor, Jaques Wagner, will make up to R$ 2 billion available from the Workers' Assistance Fund (FAT) to finance exports and generate new jobs in the sector. (DAS)