Brazil’s Central Bank reported Friday that the country’s foreign reserves hit a record high of 231.5 billion U.S. dollars on Thursday.

Brazil’s foreign reserves increased about 5 billion dollars on Thursday alone, said the bank.

The strong rise in the country’s reserves occurred two days after Brazil’s newly opened Santander Bank issued shares and raised up to 8 billion dollars in an initial public offering, the largest IPO from foreign investors in Brazil.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the Central Bank was “aggressively” purchasing dollars to increase the national reserves.

On Friday, the dollar ended at 1.737 reais, its lowest level in the past 13 months. Analysts predicted the weak dollar globally could lead to a still sharper devaluation of dollar in Brazil.

Source: Xinhua

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