On 30 April the influential credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's promoted Brazil to investment grade, reflecting the increasingly secure environment the country offers to foreign investors.

Standard and Poor's now classifies Brazilian government bonds issued in the national currency as BBB+, and those issued in foreign currencies as BBB-.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva greeted the reclassification as 'a conquest the Brazilian people have waited so many years for', while finance minister Guido Mantega regarded it as 'international recognition' of Brazil's successful fiscal policy, low inflation and robust growth.

Though long awaited by the Brazilian government and by financial analysts, the international credit crunch meant it was far from certain that Brazil's reclassification would take place in the first half of 2008.

Brazil can now look forward to attracting major institutional investors from developed countries, such as pension funds, whose statutes generally restrict them to investing in countries with a low risk rating.

Source: Office of the President and Embassy of Brazil in London