Brasília, 12/23/2005 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Brazil will pay off a US$2.6 billion debt with the Paris Club in January. This is a debt that was contracted in 1983 and was to have been paid off by December 2006 in three installments of US$860 million in January 2006, June 2006 and December 2006. This is the second anticipation of a debt payment Brazil has made this month (it recently paid off US$15.5 billion to the International Monetary Fund).

According to the head of the secretariat of the National Treasury (Tesouro Nacional), Joaquim Levy, Brazil's "healthy economy" and solid foreign accounts are making it possible to anticipate debt payments.

Translation: Allen Bennett