Brazil's government denied Thursday it had made a final decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France after a news report said the planes' maker, Dassault, had lopped two billion dollars off their price. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva "still has not decided on the selection process," the state news agency Agencia Brasil said.

Defense Minister Nelson Jobim told reporters: "The purchase has not been defined. The procedure is underway in the defense ministry. The report is unfounded."

Brazil's air force also has not received any official notification that a choice had been made between the Rafale and its two rivals in the tender, the Gripen NG from Sweden's Saab and the F/A-18 Super Hornet from US group Boeing, the agency said.

They were reacting to a report in the leading daily Folha de S. Paulo which said Lula and Defense Minister Nelson Jobim had signed off on the Rafales after Dassault's hefty price cut.

It said the total Rafale deal was worth 10.2 billion dollars, comprising 6.2 billion dollars for the fighters themselves -- down from a previous 8.2 billion -- and four billion for maintenance over the next three decades.

The discount still made the Rafale more expensive than its rivals, it said, putting the Boeing package at 7.6 billion dollars (including 5.7 billion dollars for the F/A-18s themselves) and the Saab offer at 6.0 billion (with the Gripen planes accounting for 4.5 billion dollars).