By Jeffrey T. Lewis
SÃO PAULO–Brazil’s inflation slowed in October after a decline in gasoline and ethanol prices helped slow the increase in transportation costs.
Consumer prices increased 0.24% from September, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said Friday. Prices rose 4.82% in October from a year earlier. In September, prices rose 0.26% and increased 5.19% from a year earlier.
Transportation prices rose 0.35% from September, slowing from the 1.4% increase the previous month, after the price of gasoline declined 1.53% and ethanol prices fell 0.96%. Airline ticket prices jumped 23.7% in the month.
The price of food rose for the first time in five months, increasing 0.31% in October after a decline of 0.71% the previous month.
Economists expect Brazil’s 12-month inflation rate to decline to 4.63% in December, according to the Central Bank of Brazil’s weekly survey. That would leave the headline rate within the central bank’s target range, of 1.75% to 4.75% for 2023, for the first time in three years.
The central bank cut its benchmark Selic lending rate by half a percentage point, to 12.25%, at its monetary policy meeting earlier this month, and said that the benign outlook for inflation in Brazil should allow it to continue cutting at that pace at upcoming meetings.
Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at jeffrey.lewis@wsj.com
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