Brazilian inflation at 3.15% in first half

Inflation in Brazil rose 0. 26 percent in June compared with the previous month, and reached 3. 15 pct for the first six months of the year, official data showed Friday. June marked the fifth consecutive month that the index was lower than the month before, the figure released by the Brazilian Geographic and Statistics Institute showed. For the past 12 months ending in June, inflation reached 6.7 percent, slightly above the government's target of 6.5 percent, and the highest since June 2011 when it reached 6.97 percent, according to the figures. The National Consumer Price Index, which it uses to measure inflation, registered the second-lowest rate this June, since June of 2012, when it was 0.08 percent, the data showed. The institute said the decrease was due to a general downward trend in prices in several key sectors, such as food and beverages, which saw minimal price increases of 0.04 percent, compared to the 0.31 percent registered in May. Nevertheless, the institute warned that since January, the food and beverage sector has shown an accumulated price increase of 6. 02 percent, compared with the 3.26 percent registered in the first six months of 2012. Price increases have become one of the main concerns of the government this year. The financial markets on Monday raised their inflation forecast to 5.87 percent for this year, and 5.88 percent for 2014, against the government projections of 4.5 percent for both years.