* Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) has released the latest figures for the consumer price index (IPCA), according to which monthly inflation stood at 0.31% in April. This brings annual inflation to 6.76%, up from 6.1% in March and 1.51 percentage points above the upper limit of the inflation target set by the central bank (BCB), at 3.75% +/- 1.5 percentage points. According to the Ibge, inflation in April was primarily driven by rising prices in the health and personal care category (1.19%) and food and drink category (0.40%). Prices in the transport category, which had been driving inflation in recent months due to rising fuel prices, actually fell 0.8% in April. The BCB’s monetary policy committee (Copom), which last week
raised the benchmark interest rate (Selic) by 75 basis points in a bid to keep inflation under control, has released the full minutes from its latest meeting, in which it notes that continual rate hikes
“without interruption” to a level considered neutral will help bring inflation back within the BCB’s target range.
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