6 YEARS OF THE REAL PLAN GROWTH AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

After Plano Real was implemented, conditions of access to basic household appliances have significantly improved. This fact was a consequence of the raise in the population’s purchasing power and of the reduction in the prices of these products in real terms, also due to more competition, both among producers and vendors. BASIC INFRA-STRUCTURE NEW PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS SERVED   Water supply (general network) 5.36 million     Sanitary sewage (collection network) 3.38 million     Garbage directly collected 7.02 million     Electric lighting 6.26 million     Telephone 6.09 million   Source: IBGE/PNAD The stabilisation brought about by Plano Real allowed Government to invest more in the social domain. There was a significant increment in the percentage of new private households served by basic infra-structure services. From 1993 to 1998, there occurred significant improvements in the quality of Brazilian households: over five million new households started being served by water supply; over three million started counting on sanitary sewage; and over six million new households started having access to electric power. After Plano Real, over seven million new households count on garbage collection, and about six million families started being served by new telephone lines.   Parallel to the increase in the supply of credit to the population, 1999 recorded a reduction in interest rates charged for loans to natural persons. The average interest rates of bank overdraft facilities decreased by 11.4% in the last 12 months, starting from March, 1999. Interest rates for the acquisition of durable consumer goods fell by 43.66% during the same period, which favoured the increase in consumption during the last quarter of 1999 and the first quarter of 2000. In addition, interest rates for personal credit reduced by 36.43% during the same period. These trends explain the more favourable results recorded in the sales of electrical and electronic appliances in the first third of 2000, which showed increases of 27% and 2%, respectively, for the segments of video and audio and portable equipment. The reduction in the end-user interest rates for loans does not only favour the increase of retail sales, but it also facilitates payment of debts incurred and the reduction in the rhythm of indebtedness of economic agents. The data on default pertaining to São Paulo, for instance, indicate a relative improvement of this indicator in the last months. The difference between registrations received and cancelled presented a monthly average of 124 thousand net registrations in January-May 2000. In contrast, it had reached 175 thousand registrations during the same period in 1999. As a result of government efforts aimed at reducing the bank spread and interest rates for final drawers, the credit supply to consumers, measured as credit operations without default, rose by 30.21% in the last 12 months, starting from March, 1999. Credit operations of the public sector in favour of natural persons, including operations involving the Guarantee Fund for Tenure (FGTS), grew by 56.55% in the period, and loans from the private financial system, including commercial leasing operations, grew by 21.94% during the same period. BRAZILIAN CINEMA — THE AUDIO-VISUAL PRODUCTION In the domain of the audio-visual, the formerly dynamic national movie production was practically paralysed from 1990 to 1992. After approval of the Law on Incentives to the Audio-Visual, in 1993, the production of the industry started reacting. From 1990 to 1993, five films were produced, and the figure evolved to 117 in the period from 1994 to 1999. The number of viewers of Brazilian films, which did not surpass 350 thousand in 1994, went beyond five million in 1999. In the first semester of 2000, over 3.3 million people attended presentations of national productions, and it is estimated that by the end of the fiscal year around seven million viewers are to attend movie theatres. This means, in terms of occupation in this market, a leap from 3%, in 1995, to 9%, in 1999. In the domain of books and reading, 2.194 municipalities not counting on public libraries were identified. During the period from 1996 to 1999, 686 libraries were put in place, the investments in which, in the acquisition of collections, equipment and furniture, totalled over R$ 27 million, an initiative that benefited all regions in the Country, particularly the North-East.