BNDES president says Cuba and Angola have requested confidentiality in financing contracts

(Folha de Sao Paulo, 27 August 2013, Brasilia) BNDES President Luciano Coutinho said that financing granted to Angola and Cuba were classified as secret by the government because of an agreement made between the two countries and Brazil. "The contracts are subject to provisions from the countries of destination. They are subject to a treaty or a provision by a sovereign country benefiting from an export," he said on the 27th during a public hearing at the Senate's CAE (Committee on Economic Affairs). Folha revealed in April that the Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Minister Fernando Pimentel had declared documents on loans to the two nations secret, which did not occur with another 13 beneficiaries of funding from the state bank. At that time, the ministry claimed that the contracts contained "strategic" information and were "covered by commercial confidentiality". In 2012 alone, BNDES disbursed $ 875 million to Cuba and Angola. According to Coutinho, the global values ​​involved are public, but the details of the transaction can not be revealed. He said the loan money was destined for supporting the production and export of capital goods and engineering services to both countries.