October inflation eases in Brazil but food prices keep steady

Saturday, November 9th 2013 - 06:02 UTC

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Mantega satisfied with October's inflation reading

Consumer prices in Brazil edged up last month but remained stable at 5.8% over 12 months, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reported Thursday. It put October inflation at 0.57%, up from 0.35% the previous month.

On an annualized basis, the 5.84% rate in October, which compared with 5.86% in September, was within the 6.5% upper limit of the official target.

The October hike was fueled by higher prices of clothes (1.13%) and food (1.03%).

Meat prices for example surged 3.17% on average and up to 5.85% in Sao Paulo while those of tomatoes soared 18.65% and even up to 52.69% in Rio, according to IBGE.

Last month, the central bank raised by 0.5 percentage points the benchmark interest rate to 9.5%, in an expected move to tame rising inflation

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said that October's inflation reading came below expectations and was a good result at a time of year when consumer prices usually pick up.

The Central bank Monetary Policy Committee is scheduled to meet on November 26/27.