Brasília, April 23, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The net debt of the Brazilian public sector registered a 0.79% reduction in March, compared with February, as revealed in the monthly report on Fiscal Policy released today by the head of the Economic Department of the Central Bank, Altamir Lopes.

The net debt, which was US$ 318.119 billion (R$ 926.681 billion), equivalent to 58.16% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in February, fell to US$ 317.351 billion (R$ 924.444 billion), equivalent to 57.37% of the GDP, in March. Contributing to this result were the nominal surplus of US$ 25 million (R$ 75 million) obtained during the month, the exchange rate appreciation of US$ 159 million (R$ 464 million), and the variation of US$ 584 million (R$ 1.7 billion) in the parity between currencies that make up the foreign debt.

So far this year, the ratio between the net debt and the GDP has diminished 1.37%. Lopes believes that this ratio will continue to fall gradually, in consequence of the smaller need to finance the debt and the reduced impact of the exchange rate on the dollar-indexed portion of domestic debt.

Translator: David Silberstein