MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean inflation up in October for the third straight month; GDP expands faster

The Chilean central bank will continue with its plan to purchased dollars

Consumer price inflation in Chile accelerated for the third straight month in October, data released by the National Institute of Statistics showed Tuesday.

The annual inflation rate increased to 3.7% in October from 3.3% in September. In August and July, the inflation rates were 3.2% and 2.9%.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices climbed 6.5% year-on-year, while prices in the transport sector moved up 4.8%. There was a 5.6% annual growth in housing costs and utility prices, and a 5.4% decrease in clothing and footwear prices in October.

On a monthly basis, the consumer price index increased 0.5% in October, matching the rate of growth for the previous month. In the January-October period, consumer prices advanced 3.5% compared to the same period last year.

In related news Chile’s central bank will continue to buy 50 million dollars a day over the next month to build international reserves, according to data published on its website Tuesday.

The bank plans to sell 690 million of inflation-linked bonds and 263 million of fixed-rate bonds in pesos over the next month. The biggest maturity will be 222 million of five- year inflation bonds in three auctions.

The bank will also auction 339 million of inflation-linked government bonds and 152 million of government bonds in pesos, it wrote.

Chile’s economy grew a faster-than- forecast 5.7% in September from a year earlier, damping speculation of a cut in interest rates as the European debt crisis has a limited impact on domestic demand.

Month-on-month, output expanded 0.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis, the central bank said in a statement on its website. The economy grew 4.8% in the third quarter, according to calculations based on bank data.
Growth in September reflects increases in the retail and fishing industries, the bank said, without giving details.