DJ Brazil Amply Meets IMF Goals For Foreign Debt: Ctrl Bk
Dow Jones Newswires
BRASILIA -- Brazil met all of the foreign-debt targets for March
specified in an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for $41.5
billion in aid, a top central bank official said Monday.
Altamir Lopes, head of the central bank's economic department, said
Brazil had short-term foreign debt of $3.562 billion at the end of
March, which compares with the $5.304 ceiling agreed upon with the IMF.
Public-sector foreign debt was $83.289 billion at the end of March,
below the ceiling of $87.966 billion.
Private foreign debt with a government guarantee stood at $408 million,
versus the $1.580 billion target established with the IMF. Lopes said
the totality of the end-of-March figure corresponds to debt contracted
in 1997.
Brazil and the IMF came to terms on the aid accord last November. The
macroeconomic framework of the agreement was revised in early March,
following the devaluation of the local currency, the real, in January.
Last Friday, the government announced a first-quarter primary budget
surplus of 9.235 billion reals ($1=BRR1.662), which was well above the
IMF target of BRR6.006 billion.
Brazil also met the monetary goal set by the IMF, managing to keep its
net domestic assets - monetary base less adjusted international reserves
- BRR1.322 billion below the negative BRR7.152 billion target at end of
April.
A team of IMF economists will arrive in Brazil later this month to
review the country's economic and fiscal performance.
-By Adriana Arai; (5561) 321-1224; aarai@ap.org
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