Brazil, Latin America’s leading economy, recorded inflation of 0.53 percent in January this year, the first month of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reported Thursday.
According to the Broad Consumer Price Index (IPCA), the main instrument for measuring inflation in Brazil, the first month of the year showed a slowdown compared to the previous December, when the indicator was 0.62 percent.
The IBGE detailed in its report that in the last 12 months until last January, the IPCA accumulated a variation of 5.77 percent.
With this result, the index is above the Central Bank of Brazil’s reference target, which projects inflation at 3.25 percent per year in 2023, with a margin of 1.5 percentage points above or below that value.
The greatest price pressure in the first month of the year was in food and beverages, with a rise of 0.59 percent.
The HICP manager of the institution, Pedro Kislanov, explained to journalists that the rise in food prices, with the largest increases in potatoes and carrots, was linked to the rains recorded in January in the producing regions.