Política Monetária

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil, the world's biggest exporter of beef, sugar and coffee, may ease bank reserve requirements for a fourth time in two weeks to free up lending for farmers, Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes said. Brazilian banks need an extra 5 billion reais ($2.2 billion) to meet financing demands from growers as a global credit crunch drains liquidity, Stephanes said today in a Bloomberg Television interview in Brasilia. ``We are going through a small strangling of credit,'' Stephanes said. ``Banks lack liquidity.'' Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, has already eased requirements over the past two weeks, freeing up as much as 60 billion reais in a bid to weather the global credit crunch. Interbank interest rates have soared as lenders worldwide hoard cash, freezing the availability of loans. The Brazilian real has slumped 28 percent against the dollar since the start of August, the worst performer among the 16 most- traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg, as financial turmoil prompted investors to pull money out of emerging-market assets... -- http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aC63DK0gEgeo&refer=news