Brasília, 1/14/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Minister of Finance, Antônio Palocci, said yesterday that his Ministry will present social area ministries with proposals for improving financial performance. The idea is to boost cost/benefit ratios, but not to establish priorities. Palocci announced he will receive assistance from the Applied Economic Research Institute (Ipea) and universities.

Palocci also called for an examination of how public monies should be used. He admitted that the amount of private sector credit for such programs was very low and said it was necessary to find a solution to that problem. (AB)