Cristiane Ribeiro
Reporter - Agencia Brasil

Belo Horizonte – The President of Brazil Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles, admitted, today (31) that real interest rates in Brazil are high, but added that they have consistently been reduced.

During a presentation in the "Brazil – Growth Platform" seminar, of the Inter-American Development Bank Yearly Meeting, Meirelles reiterated that Brazil has been doing its "homework" to maintain the economic stability, and added that the monetary policy should not be affected by "euphoria and voluntarist measures."

"Average interest rate from 1997 to 1999 was 21.4%, and this year, it is 10.4%. Standards are still high, but these are market interest rates, and they have been dropping consistently, and not because of voluntarist or artificial factors by government intervention. This demonstrates, again, that we are in a virtuous trajectory of consolidation of growth conditions."

Meirelles told entrepreneurs that the country is prepared to face international volatility, and that, once again, Brazilian economy is presenting conditions favorable enough to foster an increase of company’s confidence for new investments.

Translation: Andréa Alves