With Ilan, BC has its first loss in eight years.

After posting record profits in 2015, the Central Bank (BC) closed 2016 with its first loss since the start of the new methodology eight years ago. The monetary authority ended last year with operational losses of R$ 9,5 billion.

In addition to the accounting loss, the monetary authority lost R$ 240,3 billion from foreign exchange operations, comprised of the management of international reserves and foreign exchange operations. swapforeign exchange (buying and selling dollars in the futures market). The total loss, adding both losses together, amounted to R$ 249,8 billion in 2016. Since 2008, the bank has recorded its operational and foreign exchange results separately.

The financial statements of the institution were approved today by the National Monetary Council (CMN). In the first half of the year, the Central Bank had operational losses of R$ 17,3 billion and losses of R$ 184,6 billion from foreign exchange operations. In the second half of the year, the institution had an operational profit of R$ 7,8 billion and losses of R$ 55,7 billion from foreign exchange operations.

Regarding the operating loss of R$ 9,5 billion, the head of the Accounting and Financial Execution Department of the Central Bank, Arthur Andrade, explained that the fall in the dollar increased the bank's liabilities (obligations) in foreign currencies. The problem, he explained, occurred entirely in the first half of the year.

The exchange rate losses were caused by the 17,69% drop in the dollar in 2016, which reduced the value in reais of international reserves, currently at US$ 374,5 billion. In 2015, when the currency had risen 48%, the Central Bank had recorded record gains of R$ 157,3 billion from foreign exchange operations.

The results for the first half of the year were covered by the National Treasury in December 2016 and January of this year. The results for the second half of the year will be covered as follows: the Central Bank will transfer the administrative profit of R$ 7,8 billion to the National Treasury within the next ten days, and the Treasury will cover the monetary authority's exchange rate losses by the tenth business day of 2018.