UPDATE 1 — Brazil announces bill to forgive $2.5 billion in micro — entrepreneurs debt

(Updates with details, context in bullets) BRASILIA/SAO PAULO, Oct 13 (Reuters) — Brazil announced on Tuesday it would send a bill to Congress aimed at forgiving micro-entrepreneurs' debt with the government, adding it seeks to tackle about 12.6 billion reais ($2.51 billion) in debt. The government said in a statement it was also launching a program to purchase micro-entrepreneurs' debt with the private sector. Micro-entrepreneurs (MEIs) make up a simplified Brazilian business category created by the government to formalize self-employed workers, such as food delivery and rideshare drivers, and small business owners The government said debt forgiveness would reach some 3.6 million MEIs, while the purchase program would seek to buy about 6 billion reais in debt with discounts of at least 90% The measures aim at creating conditions for the expansion of the economic activities of MEIs, it added The announcement comes less than two weeks before the presidential election runoff, with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva behind in polls against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro "No one wants to be a MEI their whole life, people want to grow; It is up to the government to provide the conditions," L