The transparency of Development Banks in Brazil: Between the secrecy of bureaucracy and the democratization of information

Abstract

This research carried out a diagnosis of the active transparency of the development banks (DBs) in Brazil based on the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) Transparency Guide. The observation protocol consisted of 33 items distributed among 8 pillars, namely: Policies and guidelines; Institutional; Finance and jobs; Portfolio information; Customer data; Operations data; Impact; and Social Participation. The results show that the DBs present a process of transparency that is still insufficient and that the reality found in the institutional portals is marked by the absence of important information, which would clarify the criteria used to define the allocation of government funds. Many of the advances in the federal context were not incorporated into the subnational DBs, mainly due to complex legislation that favors secrecy in these institutions.