Brazil says debt downgrade contradicts strong fundamentals

The downgrade of Brazil's debt rating by Standard and Poor's contradicts the country's solid economic fundamentals, the finance ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said in a statement that the country continues to grow more than many of the world's largest economies and has low external vulnerabilities due to its massive foreign reserve build-up.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Eric Walsh)