Brasília – The Brazilian Central Bank posted profit of 12.2 billion reals (US$ 7.4 billion) in the first half of 2011, the best result for the period since 2003. In the first six months of 2010, the profit reached 10.8 billion reals (US$ 6.7 billion). The figure does not include the cost of maintenance of foreign exchange reserves. Had the 44.5 billion reals (US$ 27.7 billion) forex reserve management cost been considered, then the Central Bank would have posted losses of 32.3 billion reals (US$ 20.1 billion).
In 2009, the Central Bank changed its accounting methods and excluded forex reserve management costs from its results. At the time, the bank justified it by stating that the foreign public debt – which is used to make up for the reserves in the institution’s balance sheet – has been transferred to the National Treasury, it would not make sense to keep the costs of reserves in its accounting.
According to the bank’s Management director, Altamir Lopes, the high interest rates seen throughout 2011 have helped drive the profit up to US$ 7.4 billion in domestic currency operations. In the first half, the Central Bank sold 29.5 billion reals (US$ 18.3 billion) worth of bonds more than what it purchased for monetary policymaking. Nevertheless, the value of government bonds in the bank’s portfolio increased by 19.4 billion reals (US$ 12 billion) due to recognition of interest.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
