LatinNews Daily - 11 November 2024

*Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) has released its consumer price index (Ipca) for October, which showed a monthly inflation rate of 0.56%. This marks an acceleration from 0.44% monthly inflation in September and 0.24% in October 2023. The annual rate for the 12 months until October 2024 came to 4.76% – above the upper limit of the 2024 target range of 3.0% +/-1.5 set by the central bank (BCB). Of the nine categories of products and services measured for the Ipca, the transport category (-0.38%) was the only one that did not register a monthly rise in prices. The categories which posted that highest monthly inflation rates were food and drinks (+1.06%) and housing (+1.49%). The rise in household bills was mainly driven by a rise in the cost of energy. The federal electricity regulator (Aneel) raised the tariff on power consumption to the highest level (‘red flag level 2’) in October, but as of 1 November the tariff has been lowered by two levels to ‘yellow flag’.