Brazil Flirting with Deflation

The Cost of Living Index (Àndice do Custo de Vida) (ICV), in the city of São Paulo, in the southeast of Brazil, rose 4.54% in 2005, the lowest in seven years and the second lowest since the index began in 1959, reports the union-linked Statistics and Socio-Economic Department (Departamento Intersindical de EstatÀ­stica e Estudos Socioeconômicos) (Dieese).

Compared to 2004, when it was 7.7%, the ICV was down 3.16 percentage points.

Inflation in 2005 was so low that in two months, June and July, there was deflation.

Cornélia Nogueira Porto, of Dieese, says the ICV report is very good news and could lead to a relaxing of the government’s rigid monetary policies.

Porto says that the Dieese inflation forecast for 2006 is 3% to 3.5%, that is, a further reduction.

As for 2005, the Dieese report says that prices rose above average mainly in transportation, education and health, while they remained very low in all other sectors.

Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil's Potiguara Indians

Brazil’s Highest Court Sides With Indians Against Rice Farmers

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) has denied writs of mandamus which challenged presidential decrees ...

Brazil Prepares Big Self Promotion Campaign in the US

The XXIII Plenary Meeting of the Brazil-United States Entrepreneurial Council got underway yesterday in ...

British Police Deny Offering Family of Brazilian Killed by Mistake US$ 1 Million

Scotland Yard chief Sir Ian Blair says that he did not know his officers ...

News that Bank of Brazil Took Part in Government Scandal Helps Chill Brazil Market

LatAm Stocks End Mixed CSN, Aracruz, Gol Beatrice Denis News that Bank of Brazil ...

Expert Pans New Brazil’s Forest Bill As Harmful to the Amazon

The bill before the National Congress for the regulation of public forest management (PL ...

Stocks Up: In One Day Brazil Wipes Out All July Losses

In a single trading session the São Paulo Stock exchange, the Bovespa, practically recuperated ...

Brazil Tells Bolivia All’s Forgiven with US$ 1 Billion Investment

Brazilian state controlled oil multinational Petrobras announced during visit of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio ...

If Only Brazil Could Produce Knowledge the Way It Makes Cars!

In 2007, Brazil surpassed Spain and France in automobile production. Brazil produced 2.972 million ...

US Congress Moves to Strip Brazil of Developing Country Status

The American Conservative Union (ACU) today announced on behalf of its one million members ...

In Brazil Work Is a Dirty Word Unless You Hold Public Office

If we define statism as an ideology which provides a preferential role for the ...