BRASILIA: Brazilian inflation jumped to its highest monthly rate for May in a quarter century and the annual rate scaled 8% for the first time in nearly five years, figures showed on Wednesday, almost certainly confirming another punchy interest rate hike from the central bank next week.
The monthly and annual rates of increase in consumer prices were faster than economists had expected, and are likely to cast further doubt on policymakers’ insistence that much of the recent rise in inflation is down to temporary shocks.
The 0.8% monthly rate of inflation, driven by electricity and housing costs, was the highest for any May since 1996 and the 8.1% annual rate was the first reading above 8% since September 2016, statistics agency IBGE said.
The median forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists were for 0.7% and 7.9%, respectively.
The central bank’s year-end inflation goal is 3.75%, with a 1.5 percentage point margin of error on either side.
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