Brazil's central bank president says the nation has spent US$22.9 billion (euro17.3 billion) since the worldwide financial crisis began in an attempt to stabilize its tanking currency against the U.S. dollar, AP reported.
It's the first time the government has said how much it has used from the nation's more than US$200 billion in reserves.
But despite the injection of money to dilute demand for the greenback, Brazil's real continued to slip, reaching 2.2 to the dollar on Tuesday.
The currency declined more than 40 percent since Aug. 1 as wary investors pulled their money from emerging markets including Brazil amid the current global financial crisis.