Brazil's Chamber of Deputies Approves R$ 30 Billion Credit Line for App Drivers and Taxi Drivers

The Chamber of Deputies approved a provisional measure on Monday, September 31, allowing the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to allocate up to R$ 30 billion in credit lines for app drivers, taxi drivers, and taxi cooperatives to purchase new vehicles. The proposal is part of the Move Brasil program and now moves to the Senate for review. The measure was reported by Deputy Amanda Gentil, who expanded the scope of the original proposal to include school transport beneficiaries. President of the Chamber Hugo Motta praised the proposal during the session.

The program offers interest rates fixed by the National Monetary Council at 12.6 percent per year for men and 11.5 percent for women, which is significantly lower than the market average of 28 percent. The BNDES will operate these lines either directly or through enabled financial institutions. Funding comes from the Social Infrastructure Investment Fund, with guarantees provided by the Operations Guarantee Fund. Recently, the government increased the maximum vehicle price for financing from R$ 150,000 to R$ 200,000 and included hybrid electric vehicles in the program.

Data from mid August indicates that BNDES had released 11.3 percent of the available funds, totaling R$ 3.44 billion in loans to 33,400 drivers. Of these, 27,000 were app drivers and 6,000 were taxi drivers. Government representatives attributed the slow rollout to low participation from large private banks, though they acknowledged delays in activating the credit guarantee fund and failures in communicating with the target audience.

Both center and center left sources frame the initiative as part of a broader package of benefits launched by the Lula administration during an election year. They also note that the government is using the program to attempt to attract app drivers, a group that has aligned with Bolsonarismo in recent years, to its base of support.