BRASILIA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff Thursday defended her administration's economic policy, saying it has kept inflation within the target range over the past 12 years.
In an address to the National Forum of Confederations of Business and Trade Associations, Rousseff said, inflation has been kept within the limits set by the National Monetary Council over the past 12 years.
The Central Bank raised the basic annual interest rate for the ninth consecutive time Wednesday, from 10.75 percent to 11 percent, in a bid to control the inflationary tendency.
Brazil has set a target annual inflation rate of 4.5 percent, with a two-point margin, for 2014 and 2015.
The bank predicted an inflation rate of 6.1 percent in 2014, within target limit, said Rousseff.
She also said "Public debt in relation to gross domestic product(GDP), which gauges the country's capacity to pay its domestic debts, has systematically decreased. In 2002, it stood at 62 percent of GDP. Today it only stands at 33.7 percent."
Brazil has also succeeded in boosting its foreign reserves in recent years, despite a volatile international market.
"Brazil has accumulated reserves that protect us from extreme volatility. It is one of the developing countries with the largest reserves, which reaches 377 billion U.S. dollars," she said.
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