The 'Brazilian Central Bank' (
Portuguese: 'Banco Central do Brasil') is
Brazil's highest monetary authority in, and the country's governing body in, finance and economics. It was established on
December 31,
1964.
The Central Bank is linked with the Ministry of Finance. Like other central banks, the Brazilian central bank is the principal monetary authority of the country. It received this authority when it was founded by three different institutions: the Bureau of Currency and Credit (SUMOC), the Bank of Brasil (BB), and the National Treasury.
One of the arms of Brazil's
monetary policy is the Banco Central do Brasil's
SELIC rate.
On the weekend of
August 6 and
August 7,
2005 an unknown gang of burglars tunneled into the Central Bank's branch in
Fortaleza and removed five containers of 50-real notes, with an estimated value of 156 million reais (US$68 million, £36 million, €55 million). The burglars managed to evade or disable the bank's internal alarms and sensors; the burglary remained undiscovered until the bank opened for business on the morning of Monday,
August 8. ''See
Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza''
Central bank governors
★ 2002 Dec 12 -
Henrique Meirelles. Meirelles was a former executive for
FleetBoston.
★ 1999 Feb 02 -
Arminio Fraga. Fraga was a former associate of
Soros Fund Management.
★ 1999 Jan 13 - Francisco Lopes.
★ 1997 Jul 31 -
Gustavo Franco.
See also
★
Brazilian real
External links
★
Central Bank of Brazil official site