The Brazilian government is considering additional foreign exchange measures to contain the rapid appreciation of the Real, a source inside the Finance Ministry told the Sao Paulo Estado news agency Friday.
Brazilian state-run development bank BNDES will receive at least 45 billion Real or 27 billion US dollars from the government to extend its program of low-cost loans for supporting company investments in capital goods, local media reported this week.
Brazil's forex reserves surpassed the 300 billion US dollars mark for the first time ever this week according to the country's central bank as a result of recent heavy foreign exchange inflows and accelerated US dollar buying by the institution.
Competition with top trading partner China is costing Brazilian industry valuable market share, the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) in South America's largest economy said on Thursday.
Emerging market countries such as Brazil and Argentina must take a stronger position against competitive depreciations, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told Argentine press on Sunday.
Dilma Rousseff has taken measures to stop the appreciation of the real. The Brazilian Central Bank swapped all of the currency futures contracts in a reverse swap auction. This way the institution headed by Alexandre Tombini disembarks in the futures market.
The Brazilian currency Real weakened after the central bank introduced reserve requirements on short positions in U.S. dollars held by local banks with the purpose of weakening the Real which this week reached a historic high against the greenback.
Brazil’s trade surplus fell 19.8% in 2010 to 20.28 billion USD, the smallest in eight years. Exports grew 31.4% to 201.9 billion, a new record, but imports surged 41.6% to 181.64 billion, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce said this week.
Brazilian economists raised their forecast for inflation this year for the tenth consecutive week, as food costs pressure consumer prices further beyond the government’s target.
Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff admitted her administration would take all the necessary measures possible to prevent the Brazilian Real from increasing its value vis-à-vis the US dollar, according to reports from the Sao Paulo press that interviewed the successor of President Lula da Silva in the recent G-20 summit in Korea.