Brazil inflation hits 12 year high

Rio de Janeiro: Annual inflation in Brazil has hit a 12-year high at 10.48 percent, the government said Wednesday, in the latest signal of economic disarray in the world`s seventh biggest economy.

The state statistics organization said November inflation rose 1.01 percent for a year-on-year increase of 10.48. The previous high was 11.02 percent in November 2003.

For a second month running, increased fuel costs, up 5.14 percent, drove the general rise of costs.

Consumer petrol prices were up 3.21 percent, or 8.42 percent including October. Ethanol, which is widely used in Brazil to fuel cars, rose 9.31 percent, or 26 percent so far this year.

Domestic food prices rose 2.46 percent, although far more in some areas, including 4.37 percent in the north-eastern city of Goiana.

Brazil is going through a turbulent economic period with deep recession, rising unemployment, and a dramatic drop in investor confidence fueled by an impeachment drive against President Dilma Rousseff.