The government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) called on the Caixa Econômica Federal Bank to launch a R$20 billion loan to Correios, after the National Treasury rejected a proposal by five banks (including Banco do Brasil) taking into account the high interest rates of a sovereign-guaranteed operation.
On another front, the economic team continues to discuss its shareholding in the state-owned company, and is even considering the possibility of opening an extraordinary credit to release resources immediately, according to three people familiar with the matter interviewed by the newspaper. Bound. Someone reported that this option was mentioned at the JEO (Budget Execution Council) meeting on Thursday (4), but no decision has been made yet.
The executive authority believes that December 20 is the deadline to find a solution to the crisis. On that day employees will receive the second installment of their thirteenth salary, and there may be a shortage of funds to make the payment. Therefore, the issue is addressed urgently, and technicians analyze various alternatives to the impasse.
Caixa was involved in initial talks about the credit, it was revealed Bound in October, but did not present a concrete proposal in either round of negotiations already conducted by the state-owned postal service company. In internal dialogues, it was always the financial institution that expressed the greatest reservations about the process.
According to one technician, the Ministry of Finance has already indicated that the decision will be up to the bank, but warned that the company may be charged fees for being excluded from the process. The institution is officially associated with the department.
In recent days, the House of Representatives has also entered the chamber to activate Caixa Bank, which is now willing to participate in the loan within the parameters that the Treasury considers reasonable – that is, charging a lower interest rate.
The Treasury Department’s maximum cost schedule provides for up to 120% of CDI for operations of this type, or about 18% per annum. A return between 118% and 120% of the consumer price index will be considered sufficient, according to interviewees.
To give you an idea, the consortium of five banks (Banco do Brasil, BTG Pactual, Citibank, ABC Brasil, and Safra) that previously submitted a proposal, charged approximately 136% of the CDI (Interbank Certificate of Deposit), or about 20% per annum.
The government considered the cost prohibitive, because the sovereign guarantee meant that the union would pay in the event of a default. This makes the risk of loss for banks almost zero.
Members of the executive body criticized the Bank of Brazil for upholding the cost requested by private banks and also advocated dialogue with the financial institution to clarify the situation.
Working closer to the government, the loan is expected to be issued by December 20, enabling Correos to repay its obligations on time. In addition to employees’ 13th salary, the company must pay salaries on the 30th of this month.
There is also concern about maintaining the quality of the operation in the days close to Christmas, when there is greater demand for transport and logistics. Any delay could harm the company’s efforts to recover contracts and customer confidence.
Although the loan did not come to fruition, the government did not abandon discussion about the possible contribution of resources from the treasury. But today this path will only become possible through exceptional credit. The Ministry of Finance was left to study this possibility further.
Extraordinary credit is a tool provided by the Constitution to allow the government to release resources immediately and meet urgent and unexpected needs. Expenditure falls outside the boundaries of the fiscal framework, but, as a rule, is counted in the primary target result (measured as the difference between income and expenditures, minus interest on debt).
The biggest challenge for the government in this case is to justify the unpredictability, given that Curios has been accumulating losses since 2022, and warnings about the potential need for contributions have been sounded since at least mid-2025. Technicians consulted under the reserve express concerns that measures in this direction will be questioned in the future.
However, the economic team’s willingness to analyze this possibility shows that the debate over post office aid has taken on more urgent dimensions. The topic was mentioned in JEO, a group formed by Ministers Fernando Haddad (Finance), Rui Costa (Civic House), Simon Tippett (Planning) and Esther Dueck (Administration).
The usual procedure for making a contribution of this kind is to send a bill to the National Congress to open a special appropriation. This tool creates a new budget procedure for approving expenditures, and there is no way to do so without the approval of the Legislature (except through an extraordinary credit).
The problem is that the deadline for applications for special credit expired on November 29, as set out in the 2025 Budget Guidelines Act. In theory, the government could submit a proposal to change that date, but it would need to be approved in a new law and sanctioned before the credit could actually be requested – and then repeat the process with this second bill. The assessment of government technicians is that there is not enough time for this.
The definition of relief is essential to give cash flow to the Post Office. The company has accumulated increasing losses since 2022, and this year it has already recorded a loss of R$6.1 billion by the end of September.
The state-owned company estimates that R$20 billion will be needed by the end of 2026 to finance the company’s restructuring plan, which provides for the settlement of debts with suppliers and banks, a new PDV (voluntary separation programme) to dismiss at least 10,000 employees and the reworking of positions, salaries and the company’s health plan.