Brazil's inflation rate to fall in the next month
2011-05-11 18:14:04
Brazil's inflation rate reached its highest point this year and will start falling in May, a Central Bank official said on Tuesday.
"The worst of the inflation was in April. We will see lower rates from now on," said Monetary Policy Director Aldo Mendes.
According to Mendes, commodities prices will fall in the upcoming months, bringing the inflation rate down, and seasonal effects will contribute to the decrease.
He also assured that the government will keep on taking measures to control the inflation rate, such as raising annual basic interest rate Selic, which is currently at 12 percent.
In April, Brazil's inflation rate hit 0.77 percent, roughly the same as in March, but a considerable rise from the 0.57 percent registered in April 2010. The accumulated rate in the first four months of the year reached 3.23 percent, from 2.65 percent in the same period last year.
In the May 2010 to April 2011 period, the accumulated inflation rate reached 6.5 percent. It was the first time in the year that the accumulated rate surpassed Brazil's inflation target.
The government set a target of 4.5 percent for this year, with a tolerance of two percentage points, which means that the rate cannot exceed 6.5 percent.
Mendes believed the inflation rate will be close to 6.5 percent by the end of the year, but will fall to 4.5 percent in 2012.