Brazil's currency on Friday strengthened as the agreement by G20 leaders to stimulate the global economy increases investor appetite for riskier emerging market assets. Brazil's currency, the real, strengthened 1.34 percent to 2.206 per dollar, adding to a 2 percent gain the previous session.
BRAZIL CUTS LOAN COSTS TO AID INDEBTED COMPANIES Brazil's central bank said on Friday it cut the costs of dollar-denominated loans to help domestic companies roll over foreign obligations.
The cost of the credit lines was reduced to the London interbank offered rate plus a spread of 1.0 percentage point a year, from Libor plus 1.5 percentage points a year when the measure was announced in February. Brazil's central bank had said it was ready to lend up to 18 percent of its international reserves to help domestic companies, which have an estimated $36 billion in foreign debt obligations in the period between October 2008 and December 2009 amid a global credit crisis. No funds have been transferred yet.