Brasília, January 7, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Central Bank (BC) will begin to purchase dollars on the market for the purpose of elevating the country's international reserves. This information was released by the president of the BC, Henrique Meirelles, on Tuesday (6). Up to this point, such purchases have been made by the Federal Treasury through the Bank of Brazil.

Meirelles affirmed that the measure does not signify the establishment of a specific value for the dollar. "Even though the intention of the monetary authorities is to increase the country's reserves over the medium term, no specific target will be set for the volume of resources," the president of the BC declared.

The BC will remain the sole agency responsible for providing the Federal Treasury with foreign exchange to pay off the part of the foreign debt owed in interest and principal on government bonds and the amounts due the Club of Paris.

The Federal Treasury will continue, as before, to purchase foreign exchange on the market to pay off other federal government obligations abroad, including payments on loans from multilateral institutions, such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (IBRD).

According to Meirelles, after the need for dollars to repay debts and interest is met, the rest of the foreign exchange will be used for the "gradual recomposition" of the country's international reserves over the medium term. (DAS)