The Brazilian government has spent a total of 475 billion reais (US$216 billion) since September 2008 on measures to fight the international financial crisis, local newspaper reported on Friday.

The Central Bank's measures alone, which include swap US dollar auctions and changes in the bank compulsory deposits regulations, amounted to 284 billion reais (US$129 billion) so far, daily O Globo said.

The bank's initial measures were aimed at facilitating people's access to credit. Fiscal measures, such as tax cuts, were adopted later.

The most significant fiscal measure was taken in December, when the government determined a cut in the income tax and in the Tax over Industrialized Products (IPI) for the automotive sector for three months.

The measure, which had an impact of nine billion reais (US$ billion), was to last until the end of March, but the government decided to maintain it for another three months, and also extended the cut to the construction sector.

Additionally, the federal government announced in March a 34 billion reais (US$15 billion) housing plan aimed at the poorest population in the country. The plan foresees house financings in up to 30 years, with monthly installments as cheap as 50 reais (US$22).

Despite the figures, Brazil is still one of the countries which spent less in anti-crisis measures, according to a recent report from the World Trade Organization (WTO), which recommends the countries spend two percent of their GDP on such measures.

The Brazilian government's such expenses amounted to only 0.5 percent of the GDP.

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2009)