SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil's consumer prices rose less than expected in the month to mid-June despite pressure from food inflation, data from statistics agency IBGE showed on Wednesday.
Inflation in Latin America's largest economy, as measured by the IPCA-15 index, came in at 0.39% in the period, slowing down from the 0.44% registered a month earlier.
Economists polled by Reuters were expecting a monthly consumer price increase of 0.45%.
The group of products consisting of food and beverages was the main driver, with prices rising by 0.98%, compared with 0.26% a month earlier.
Brazil's central bank unanimously paused its easing cycle last week by holding its benchmark interest rate at 10.50% amid higher inflation expectations, fiscal struggles and the outlook for future rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The reading "won't change the picture that the central bank's easing cycle is over - for this year at least," William Jackson, Chief Emerging Markets Economist at Capital Economics, said in a note to clients.
"With the headline inflation rate likely to rise further in the coming months, the real still under pressure and no end in sight to the government's fiscal saga, we don't see scope for any more interest rate cuts over the rest of this year."
Brazil's annual inflation hit 4.06% in the first half of June, according to IBGE, compared with an expected 4.12%.
Private economists polled weekly by the central bank see stable interest rates through 2024 and falling to 9.5% by the end of 2025.
(Reporting by Peter Frontini; editing by Gabriel Araujo and Mark Heinrich)
