Brazil’s Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) stood in October at 4.63% in year-on-year terms, slightly above the 4.58% recorded in the same month last year, according to data released this Thursday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Compared with September, prices rose 0.14%, far below the increase of 0.82% recorded in the previous month. With this, inflation accumulated in the first ten months of the year reaches 4.10%.
By component, the food and beverages group was the one that contributed the most to the monthly increase, with a rebound of 1.04%, ahead of telecommunications, which rose 0.71%, and of household goods, which increased by 0.44%. In the opposite direction, transport became cheaper, with a drop of -0.59%, and housing, with a decline of -0.51%, while educational costs advanced only 0.07%.
In this context, the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) decided a week ago to keep the benchmark interest rate at 13.75%, considering that this stance was “consistent” with its strategy of stabilizing prices, “smoothing out” the “economic fluctuations,” and fostering employment.