Brazilian Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles has said reform of the labour market last year could allow the Brazilian economy to create 2.5 million new jobs this year, Xinhua reports.

The Chinese state-run news agency quotes Mr Meirelles as telling a meeting of businesspeople in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul that growth in the economy is now less like a duck taking off and more like an eagle soaring.

The government is creating conditions for the economy to keeping growing over the long term, Xinhua quotes the minister as saying.

Brazilian gross domestic product grew by 1 percent last year, having shrunk in the preceding two years.