BRASILIA: Brazil moved aggressively to shield its economy from a widening global financial crisis on Thursday, unveiling a slate of measures to boost consumption and investment in Latin America's biggest country.
The announcement comes just one day after Brazil's central bank cut interest rates for third straight time to shore up credit, citing mounting concerns about the impact of the euro zone debt crisis on the Brazilian economy.
Financial markets rallied on the news, with Brazil's Bovespa stock index surging as much 2 percent and the currency gaining more than 1 percent. Shares in exchange operator BM&FBovespa jumped more than 7 percent and retail stocks also gained.
The government of President Dilma Rousseff is seeking to prevent the global crisis from derailing Brazil's economic boom, which has lifted more than 25 million people out of poverty over the last decade and made the country an emerging economic powerhouse.
"We won't allow the global crisis to contaminate the Brazilian economy," Finance Minister Guido Mantega said at a news conference in Brasilia, adding that the measures aim to ensure that Brazil's economy starts 2012 on the upswing and grows 5 percent next year.
The measures encompass a broad spectrum of the economy, from stock and bond purchases to tax breaks for domestic manufacturers.
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