Economy & Business - October 2006

On 18 October the central bank's monetary policy committee (Copom) cut base interest rates by half a point to 13.75%. This was the lowest interest rates have been since the Copom started meeting, in 1996. Yet even with the cut, real interest rates are still over 10%. According to the official statistical agency, IBGE, inflation is running at 3.7% for the 12 months to September.