Brazil's inflation outlook worsens in central bank poll

BRASILIA: Economists raised their forecasts for Brazil's 2016 and 2017 inflation rate in a weekly central bank poll, adding pressure on policymakers to resume interest rate hikes despite a recession.

The median expectation of about 100 analysts in the survey projected inflation at 7.56 percent at end-2016 and 6.00 percent at end-2017, up from 7.26 percent and 5.80 percent respectively in the prior week's poll. The forecasts are usually updated every Monday but were postponed this week due to Carnival.

Brazil's central bank targets inflation at 4.5 percent but refrained from raising interest rates from 14.25 percent last month as policymakers bet the country's deep recession could help reduuce price pressures this year.