Brazil's central bank on Wednesday announced a 1.0 percentage point cut to its key interest rate, bringing it down to 9.25 percent as the country struggles to lift itself out of recession.

It was the seventh consecutive cut to the so-called Selic rate, underlining the bank's confidence that inflation in Latin America's biggest economy was under control.

Wednesday's decision meant the Selic was now below the 10-percent level for the first time since October 2013.