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Brazil Government To Announce Budget Cuts At 1800 GMT


BRASILIA (Dow Jones)--Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega and Planning
Minister Miriam Belchior will announce details of a widely expected cut to the
2011 budget Wednesday at 1800 GMT, the planning ministry said.

Economists have been calling for a deep cut to the budget, by as much as 50
billion Brazilian reais ($29.94 billion), to help reduce pressure on inflation
and avoid the need for increasing central bank interest rate hikes.

Brazil's IPCA consumer price index, the country's main measure of inflation,
accelerated to 0.83% in January from 0.63% in December on rising food and
transportation prices. The result, the highest monthly figure since April 2005,
left 12-month inflation at 5.99%, well above the center point of the country's
annual inflation target of 4.5%.