Foreign investment in Brazil hit a record of 2.78 billion U.S. dollars in March, the highest level since 1947, according to Brazil's Central Bank.

Investment was up 70.5 percent from 1.63 billion dollars registered in the same period last year, twice the amount expected by the bank.

Altamir Lopes, head of the bank's economic department, said that he had expected total investment of 1.2 billion dollars for March 2007.

The Central Bank also announced that foreign investment in the first quarter of 2007 amounted to 6.58 billion dollars, the best result since 2000.

The bank highlighted the increase in investment in the production of ethanol, which reached 132 million dollars. In the first quarter of 2006, only 7 million dollars from abroad were invested in the sector.

He added that he expected foreign investment to reach 2 billion dollars in April, as 1.7 billion were already confirmed.

Lopes attributed the rise in foreign investors' trust in Brazil to the country's economic stability, low inflation rate and prospects for development.

The Central Bank reported that Brazil invested 1.46 billion dollars in other countries in March. Lopes explained that they expected the investment sent abroad to reach 5.5 billion dollars by the end of 2007.

Source: Xinhua