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BRASILIA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's economy minister, Henrique Meirelles, said on Friday that the country would begin 2018 with a 3 percent growth rate, before increasing further in 2019.

Writing on social media, Meirelles said that Brazil is ready to continue with its reforms agenda which began last year, and hailed already passed legislation such as the cap on public spending, labor reform, increased responsibility on public companies and long-term interest rates.

"These changes help to bring back confidence, with fall in long-term interest rates and greater expected growth in coming years," he wrote.

The government's official prediction is that Brazil will grow by 0.5 percent this year and by 2 percent in 2018, although these are still changeable.

A week ago, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) published the country's second quarter results, noting GDP growth of 0.2 percent after seeing a 1 percent rise in the first quarter.

The first half of 2017 saw Brazil leave behind the longest recession of its history, with GDP falling by 3.8 percent in 2015 and 3.6 percent in 2016.