Brazilian Development Bank

Criticism and controversies

BNDES has been accused of operating with larger firms in a corrupt manner and giving help to big corporations instead of small and medium-sized private businesses.

Operating with statutes of "ethical and environmental principles", in 2012, BNDES approved a 22.5 billion real loan for the construction of the Belo Monte Dam, a project that displaced local communities. The plan was strongly criticized by environmental groups and indigenous populations.

In 2013, ~90% of BNDESPAR investments concentrates in five industries. In recent BNDES investments, lobby irregularities and conflict of interest arrives with JBS S.A. OGX/EBX Group, GPA (company), and others.

The bank has been criticized for supporting the international expansion of some private firms.

Economists around the world recognize that Brazil has its own development bank, a key financial organization, bigger than the World Bank. As the Nobel Prize economist J. Stiglitz opinion, "... the BNDES is a huge development bank (...) People don’t realize this, but Brazil has actually shown how a single country can create a very effective development bank (...) that actually promotes real development without all the conditionality and all the trappings around the old institutions".

Despite the recognition of financial volume, effective infrastructure and organization, the bank is used by only a few industries. The concentration of financial volume in few and perhaps questionable industries contradicts the bank's development and diffusion goals. The concentration contrasts greatly with Brazilian's per capita income and its many small and medium-sized enterprises.