*Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad has sought to downplay concerns over the recent volatility of the value of the Brazilian real against the US dollar, insisting that the real’s value will stabilise. According to media outlets such as Bora Investir, a news portal linked to the B3 stock exchange in São Paulo, the real’s value sunk to a new record low yesterday, closing the day at an exchange rate of R$6.26 to the dollar. Haddad spoke about these concerns in a press conference yesterday afternoon, in which he was questioned about suggestions in the media that the currency’s depreciation is being driven by speculative selling by traders betting against the real. The finance minister said that any speculative moves in the markets would be addressed by interventions from authorities such as the national treasury and the central bank (BCB) and that he expected the real to eventually stabilise. To mitigate the sinking value of the real against the dollar, the BCB has recently been selling off its dollar reserves, with another spot auction scheduled for later today (19 December).