The Brazilian government plans to change the bankruptcy law to help indebted firms emerge faster from creditor protection, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles told a newspaper and Reuters reported yesterday. The changes would reduce the average length of bankruptcy protection to two years, compared to between seven and eight years currently, he said. Bankers and lawyers expect bankruptcies to set a record in 2017, with tight credit and the lingering recession forcing a growing number of large Brazilian companies to seek protection from creditors. The bill, which will be submitted to Congress in June, would make it easier for companies under creditor protection to maintain operations and borrow funds. It would also grant creditors stronger power in the discussions, Meirelles added, without providing further details. That is the latest in a wide series of microeconomic reforms proposed by President Michel Temer's administration to lift Latin America's largest economy from its deepest recession in decades and secure steady growth from then on.
