Brasília, January 13, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Minister of Finance, Antônio Palocci, said today that the administration is working to reduce prime interest rates over the medium and long run. According to him, since the transition period the government has made an effort to define lower interest rates.

The Minister added that the decision whether or not to reduce the prime rate (Selic) will be made according to technical criteria and will be exclusively up to the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (Copom). "What we want to know is whether January is the right moment to do this, and we confide in Copom's judgement," Palocci said. (DAS)