The Brazilian Central Bank establishes the basic interest rate target for the Brazilian financial system by reference to the level of economic growth of the Brazilian economy, the level of inflation and other economic indicators. From February to July 17, 2002, the Brazilian Central Bank reduced the basic interest rate from 19% to 18%. From October 2002 to February 2003, the Central Bank increased the basic interest rate by 8.5 percentage points, to 26.5% on February 19, 2003, and kept it at this level until June 2003 when the Central Bank began to decrease it, reaching 11.25% in April 2008. In 2008, the Brazilian Central Bank reversed the