The Brazilian government announced on Thursday the opening of credit lines amounting to 83 billion reals (20.3 billion U.S. dollars) in a bid to boost the economy.

Brazil is facing a recession and the outlook for this year is bleak. With the new credit lines, the government hopes to mitigate the impacts of reduced economic activities, rising inflation and unemployment.

The credit lines will be used to fund farm production, real estate operations, infrastructure projects, small businesses and exports.

The measure was announced during the first meeting of the new Council for Economic and Social Development, which has been reactivated after being idle since mid-2014.

Comprised of representatives of workers, academia, civil society and the business sector, the council is tasked to offer different perspectives on the country's problems and help seek solutions.

Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa said resources are already in the financial market, so allocating them to finance investments won't further increase the inflation rate, which reached 10.67 percent in 2015, the highest in 13 years.