SAO PAULO: Economists raised forecasts for Brazil's 2014 inflation for the third straight week, a weekly central bank survey showed on Monday, suggesting policymakers will need to raise interest rates to keep price expectations under control.
Consumer prices will probably rise 5.68 percent next year, up from a forecast of 5.60 percent in the prior week's survey, according to the median estimate of about 100 financial institutions polled for the so-called Focus survey.
The outlook for the benchmark IPCA price index in the next 12 months was also revised up to a rise of to 5.43 percent from 5.42 percent in the prior week.
The central bank targets inflation at 4.5 percent, with a tolerance margin of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Estimates for economic growth, interest rates and consumer prices in 2013 remained largely unchanged.
Economists have been expecting a mild economic recovery in Brazil this year, but stubbornly high inflation should force the central bank to raise interest rates in coming months from a record low.
The central bank on Thursday said it also expects inflation to remain relatively high in the next two years, but stopped short of signaling an imminent rate hike.
The outlook for upcoming monthly inflation figures remained unchanged, though. Economists held their forecasts for March's consumer price increases at 0.50 percent.
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