RIO DE JANEIRO, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's foreign exchange reserves have crossed 200 billion U.S. dollars, the country's Central Bank announced Friday.

The U.S. dollar-denominated foreign exchange reserves reached 200.23 billion dollars as of Thursday, up 10.3 percent from the 181.38 billion dollars registered at the beginning of 2008.

The rise reflects the purchase of 1.233 billion U.S. dollars by the Central Bank on June 24, and the variation in the market value of U.S. treasury bonds.

Such a high volume of reserves will help protect Brazil from international financial turmoil, as it shows foreign investors that the country has sufficient funds to pay off external debts, reducing the risk of a moratorium

In March, the Central Bank reported that Brazilian external debts had reached 201.6 billion dollars.