The Economist has a piece on BNDES, advocating greater transparency, and noting the influence of the organization.
EIKE BATISTA, Brazil’s richest man, calls BNDES, the country’s state-owned development bank, “the best bank in the world”. But a former BNDES chairman, Luiz Carlos Mendonça de Barros, says it is a serpent’s egg—a reference to a film about the origins of the Nazi party. And a former central-bank chief, Gustavo Loyola, dubs the bank “Jurassic” and reckons its links with the treasury recall one of the worst periods of military rule. The violence of the rhetoric reflects growing controversy over BNDES and over state interference in the economy.