Brasília – The Brazilian Central Bank announced today (4th) that the country’s foreign exchange reserves by the end of 2009 reached a record-high figure of US$ 239.054 billion, growth of US$ 32.248 billion compared with 2008, when Forex reserves totalled US$ 206.806 billion.
A significant share of the growth was due to the resumption of purchases of dollars in the spot market by the Central Bank. According to the Flow of Foreign Exchange Bulletin, by December 24th, the country had received an inflow of US$ 28.89 billion, of which US$ 26.9 billion consisted of additional reserves.
Throughout the year, the purchases of dollars were also regarded as a means to contain the devaluation of the United States currency against the Brazilian real, which lost 25% of its value over the course of last year, leading Brazilian products to lose competitiveness in the international market.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
