Rio, January 13, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The publication Conjuncture Analysis, released today by the National Association of Open Market Institutions (Andima), reveals that last week was marked by an atmosphere of optimism. According to Andima, the optimism began with the administration's announcement of its economic team and was reinforced by declarations by the president of the Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles, that the transition would not produce surprises.

This sentiment, together with the success of Brazilian banks in obtaining resources abroad, provoked a decline in the dollar, which fell to R$ 3.30 on Friday (10), culminating a 5% loss for the week, while the Bovespa (São Paulo stock market) rose 2.8% on Friday and 5.5% for the week.

The publication also highlights the results for the IGP-M in the first ten days of January: 1.34%, which corresponds to a little more than half the inflation registered in the same period of December. The resumption of economic activity, registered in the monthly industrial survey published by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) for November, and which showed growth (0.5%) for the sixth consecutive month, was another positive point underlined by Andima. (DAS)