SAO PAULO
Annual inflation in Brazil grew to 7.9 percent in the 12 months to mid-March, slowing less than experts had forecast, official figures released Friday showed.
The latest Broad Consumer Price Index, the IPCA-15, registered inflation of 1.24 percent in March, according to the government's official statistics agency, the IBGE, down from 1.33 percent recorded in February.
The annualized rate of 7.9 percent in the 12 months to mid-March, up from 7.36 percent a month earlier, is the fastest rate since May 2005, when it hit 8.19 percent.
Prices were pushed by food and government-controlled energy prices -- electricity and fuel bills -- have seen substantial price hikes in the last two months.
Electricity bills have increased 10.91 percent, the G1 news portal reported, and accounted for the biggest single pressure on inflation.
Brazil's official target for annual inflation is 4.5 percent, with a tolerance band of 2 percentage points above or below that target rate.
The latest survey of economists released Monday by the central bank predicted inflation would end the year at 7.93 percent. It also forecast the economy would contract by 0.78 percent in 2015.
The central bank recently raised its key SELIC interest rate to 12.75 percent, the highest level in six years, in a bid to curb inflation. Economists expect it to climb to at least 13 percent by the end of the year.
Official fourth-quarter and year-end GDP growth figures for 2014 are expected next week.
The poor economic results come after Sunday's mass protests against President Dilma Rousseff and her ruling coalition, where hundreds of thousands of protesters voiced their discontent for government corruption and the state of the economy.
Rousseff's second-term economic team, headed by Finance Minister Joaquim Levy, has begun forcing austerity measures through government, including tax rises and cuts to government spending, in a bid to kickstart the country's flagging economy.
