Brasília, January 12, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Central Bank (BC) announced today that, in its capacity as agent of the Federal Treasury, it authorized the Citigroup and the Deutsche Bank to supervise the underwriting of sovereign instruments (Federal bonds) in dollars on the international market.

The announcement was expected by the financial market, in view of the favorable moment for Brazilian liquidity. Last week, for the first time, Brazil saw its most important debt instrument, the C-Bond, surpass its par value and the country risk premium fall to the level of 405 points in the J.P.Morgan ranking. (DAS)