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LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Brazil remains open to stepping up taxation on capital inflows to restrain the strength of its currency and wants G20 leaders to address global currency imbalances at their next summit, the country's central bank governor said on Tuesday.
Henrique Meirelles said some countries were deliberately weakening their currencies to maintain their advantage in export competitiveness and said Brazil was not prepared to suffer the consequences of such policies.
"Evidently, there is a very serious currency problem which should be addressed. It's not necessarily a war. Some countries seem to have a problem...Brazil is not going to pay the price," he told a news conference in London.
"Brazil already has financial tax on inflows of 2 percent, it's always an open possiblity, always something which can be used," he added.
Brazil imposed a tax on foreign investment in local stocks
and bonds last October but the move has barely halted the real
currency
On Monday, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the world was in an "international currency war" as governments manipulate their currencies' value to improve their export competitiveness. [ID:nN27256208]
In recent weeks, the central bank has begun holding two
auctions daily to buy dollars to contain the real
Meirelles said the bank would continue to hold auctions when necessary, adding that it had no exchange rate target.
"We are facing some problems in terms of the inflows of money...We have to keep the local financial system safe and inflation on target," he added.
Economists predict Brazil's economy, the world's eighth largest, to grow 7.42 percent this year and have cut estimates for 2010 inflation to 4.97 percent.
G20 DEBATE? Meirelles said the persistent overvaluation of Brazil's currency could erode its economic competitiveness and lead to a widening of the current account deficit, which "in the longer term could become a source of problems".
Goldman Sachs has identified the real as the most overvalued among the world's major currencies.
As a result of low interest rates in much of the developed world, notably the U.S., investors are moving their capital into higher-yielding assets in economies such as Brazil.
At the same time, Japan, Colombia, Thailand and other countries have sought to weaken their currencies to help accelerate their economic recovery.
Meirelles declined to name the countries acting to keep their currencies weaker but said the issue should be discussed at the November leaders' summit of the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies in Seoul.
"It's an important subject to be addressed there, (for example) what type of collective action can be taken," he said.
Last week, Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said it
would not be appropriate for the G20 to discuss the level of
China's yuan currency
The government last week authorized Brazil's $10.4 billion sovereign wealth fund, created last year, to buy dollars on the spot forex market.
Meirelles declined to comment on when the sovereign wealth fund would act in the market, saying the central bank only acts as an agent of the Brazilian Treasury.
On Tuesday, Brazil Treasury Secretary Arno Augustin said the sovereign wealth fund had yet to start intervening in foreign exchange markets. [ID:nSPG003073] (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Sebastian Tong; Editing by Ron Askew)