Brasília, February 23, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The monetary base (volume of money in circulation) remained stable in January, increasing only slightly from R$ 70.802 billion, in December, to R$ 70.815 billion, in January. The currency balance totalled R$ 48.231 billion, while bank reserves stood at R$ 22.583 billion. The latter grew 9.1% for the month, as a result of the larger volume of demand deposits beginning in December, whereas the currency balance declined 3.7%. (DAS)