Brazil inflation this year remained unchanged at 5.12%

The market view for inflation in Brazil this year remained unchanged at 5.12 percent. The Brazilian Central Bank targets inflation of 4.5 percent annually, with a tolerance range of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The median estimate for economic growth for 2012 rose slightly to 3.23 from 3.22 percent, but analysts left unchanged their estimates for growth in 2013 at 4.30 percent. Consumer prices were seen rising 0.58 percent in April, according to the median forecast of the central bank survey. For the next 12 months, inflation will likely be 5.53 percent, unchanged from last week’s prediction. Meanwhile, Brazilian policymakers will likely slash interest rates to record lows after changing rules for savings accounts, a weekly central bank survey of economists showed. The country’s benchmark interest rate is expected to end this year at 8.5 percent, the so-called Focus survey showed, down from last week’s 9-percent forecast. The bank survey, which tracks weekly forecasts of the most-widely watched economic indicators in Brazil, also showed analysts foresee prices climbing 5.56 percent by the end of next year compared with last week’s 5.53 percent prediction. The survey’s results are the median forecast of analysts polled by the central bank at about 100 financial institutions.