IMF managing director Michel Camdessus said in a statement on Wednesday that he welcomed Brazil's continued commitment to economic reforms forming part of a fiscal-adjustment programme announced last year, and he urged the government to meet its promises.

The IMF threw Brazil a $41.5 billion lifeline in November, including $18 billion of its own money in an international rescue package designed to stave off financial collapse and help the Brazilian authorities protect the real.

An initial IMF payment of $5.3 billion was transferred soon after the loan was approved on December 2, and Brazil can draw on an additional $4.5 billion by late February, provided it meets the terms of the reform package underpinning the loan.

The reforms, outlined in a November letter of intent to the IMF, include promises to rein in Brazilian spending. The letter also said Brazil's exchange-rate regime was "an essential means" to keeping inflation low. It was not clear to what extent the IMF package would have to be changed because of the new foreign-exchange rules, which widen the band where the real can trade against the dollar.

Brazilian central bank president Francisco Lopes, appointed on Wednesday after predecessor Gustavo Franco resigned, said the change did not amount to a "maxi-devaluation." A central bank director, Demosthenes De Pinho Neto, said government fiscal targets would remain in force despite the changes.

The Brazilian rescue deal was the fifth multi-billion dollar international bailout in 18 months, after similar agreements in Asia and in Russia.

The fund says its reform programmes are starting to bear fruit in Asia, but the Russian package failed within weeks after Moscow defaulted on some domestic debts and effectively devalued its currency, the rouble.