LatinNews Daily - 25 October 2024

*Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) has released its mid-month consumer price index (Ipca-15) for October, which put mid-month inflation at 0.54%. This marks an acceleration from 0.13% in mid-September and from 0.21% in mid-October 2023. The latest Ipca-15 figure comes after four consecutive months of monthly decelerations in inflation. The accumulated annual inflation rate for the 12 months until mid-October 2024 came to 4.47%. Of the nine categories of products and services measured for the Ipca-15, eight registered monthly rises in prices. The greatest monthly inflation was registered in the housing category (+1.72%), which was mainly driven by rising energy bills. In a press release, the Ibge highlighted that the federal electricity regulator (Aneel) raised the tariff for power consumption to the highest level (‘red level 2’), increasing the cost of electricity from R$4.46 (US$0.78) per 100 kilowatt-hours (KwH) in September to R$7.88 per 100 kwH in October.