Brazil Inflation Eases To Nearly 2-Year Low; Retail Sales Fall Further

(RTTNews) - Brazil's consumer price inflation eased for the seventh straight month in January to reach its lowest level in nearly two years, figures from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, showed on Thursday.

Separate official data showed that retail sales decreased for the second straight month in December.

The consumer price index climbed 5.77 percent year-over-year in January, slightly below the 5.79 percent rise in December. Meanwhile, economists had expected inflation to rise to 5.80 percent.

Moreover, this was the lowest inflation rate since February 2021, when prices had risen 5.20 percent.

However, it was clearly above the central bank's inflation target of 3.25 percent in 2023.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices moved up 0.53 percent in January, following a 0.62 percent rise in the previous month. The expected increase was 0.57 percent.

Prices grew most in the food and beverages group by 0.59 percent over the month.

Another report from the statistical office data showed that retail sales fell 2.6 percent month-on-month in December, faster than the 0.9 percent drop in November. Further, this was the biggest fall in the year 2022.

Sales of fabrics, apparel and footwear declined the most by 6.1 percent monthly in December, and other articles of personal and domestic use slid 2.9 percent.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth eased to 0.4 percent in December from 1.4 percent a month ago.

In 2022, total retail sales advanced 1.0 percent compared to 2021, but the lowest result since 2016, when sales had fallen 6.2 percent.