Brazil's central bank on Wednesday cut the key interest rate to a record low of seven percent, about half of what it was a year ago.

The 0.5 percentage point drop in the Selic rate reflected the strong fall in inflation as Brazil emerges from a two-year recession.

Back in October 2016, when the country's economy was still firmly in negative territory, the Selic was at 14.25 percent, with the bank fighting to tamp down any inflationary pressure.

From then, however, the bank embarked on the first of what are now 10 consecutive rate cuts, dropping under the 10 percent barrier in July for the first time in nearly four years.

Inflation is now considered a low risk. Prices were rising at 10.6 percent in 2015 and 6.2 percent in 2016, but only hit 2.7 percent over 12 months last October.