BRASILIA: Consumer prices in Brazil rose 0.74 percent in May, pushing inflation to 5.34 percent in the first five months of 2015 and to 8.47 percent over the last 12 months, the Institute for Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, reported Wednesday.
Both the January-May and interannual rates are the highest since 2003.
IBGE data show the major drivers of inflation in May were food and beverages, with the price of tomatoes soaring 21.38 percent.
Electric bills went up 2.77 percent in May, IBGE said.
Accelerating inflation is just one of the headaches plaguing the government of President Dilma Rousseff.
Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, grew only 0.1 percent in 2014 and is expected to shrink by 1.2 percent this year even as inflation reaches 8.5 percent, well above the government’s target range of 4.5 percent to 6.5 percent.
Rousseff is following an approach that combines spending cuts and increased tax receipts to address a budget deficit with a just-announced public works program valued at 198.4 billion reais ($64 billion) to stimulate growth.
