Brazil's central bank holds interest rates as expected, keeps hawkish tone

BRASILIA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank held interest rates at a nearly two-decade high on Wednesday for the fourth consecutive meeting, and kept its hawkish tone unchanged by stressing the need to maintain borrowing costs steady "for a very prolonged period."

The bank's rate-setting committee, known as Copom, unanimously voted to leave the benchmark Selic rate at 15%, its highest since July 2006, as expected by all 41 respondents in a Reuters poll.