Inflation Accelerated
Annual inflation in Brazil accelerated to 5.91 percent in 2013, exceeding the official 4.5 percent target for the fourth straight year. Analysts surveyed Jan. 17 by the central bank forecast consumer prices will rise 6.01 percent this year and 5.6 percent in 2015.
Brazil’s government won’t try to slow inflation by easing growth in the jobs market, Labor Minister Manoel Dias told reporters in Brasilia today. Latin America’s largest economy will create 1.4 million to 1.5 million jobs this year, he said.
Policy makers in a bid to slow inflation have raised the benchmark Selic interest rate in seven straight meetings to 10.5 percent. Rates on swap contracts due January 2015, the most traded in Sao Paulo today, rose 0.05 percentage point to 11.06 percent at 4:58 p.m. local time.
To contact the reporter on this story: Carla Simoes in Brasilia Newsroom at csimoes1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andre Soliani at asoliani@bloomberg.net