The Rousseff administration of Brazil has demonstrated its commitment to meeting fiscal targets, thereby enlarging the scope for using monetary tools to influence the domestic economy. We expect the government to pursue cautious fiscal and monetary policies that, combined with the country's growing economic resilience, should moderate the impact of potential external shocks and sustain long-term growth prospects. We are raising our long-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on Brazil to 'BBB' from 'BBB-' and our long-term local currency ratings to 'A-' from 'BBB+'. The outlook is stable. (Listen to the related podcast titled, "Brazil: Prudent Economic Policies Spark An Upgrade," dated Nov. 28, 2011.) On Nov. 17, 2011, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services raised its long-term foreign currency sovereign
