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Finance Minister Guido Mantega (pictured) has been trying to downplay the strength of the REAL, proposing that it will slump in the near future. But currency traders don't believe him. They continue bid it up. Investors feel that rising interest rates will attract foreign capital. The real’s 1.92% rise in the last three weeks is the biggest among 25 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg. After adjusting for inflation, Brasil’s benchmark rate is still the second highest among 54 countries tracked by Bloomberg and only Croatia has higher borrowing costs. But the central bank has more than doubled its dollar purchase to $18.6 billion in the foreign-exchange market this year through August from $7.3 billion in the year-earlier period to stunt the REAL's growth.
