Brasília, 2/12/2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Yesterday president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva inaugurated the country's first "mixed" cooperative, that is, one that can be used by both individuals and corporations. To be known as the Distrito Federal Credindustria, it will provide low interest loans.

The Distrito Federal Credindustria was born with 110 members, R$500,000 in capital and a loaning capacity of R$5 million in funds from the Cooperative Bank (Bancoop) which is an operational arm of the Brazilian Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social) (BNDES) and the Golvernment Financing Agency (Finaciadora de Estudos e Projetos) (Finep). (AB)