Peru's consumer prices rose less than expected in January despite growing political tensions, but the 12-month rate still ticked up as the Andean nation battles the highest inflation in a quarter of a century, Reuters reported. Government data showed on Wednesday that consumer prices in the Lima metropolitan region, seen as the national benchmark, were up 0.23% in the first month of the year, well below the median forecast of 0.43% in a Reuters poll of economists. It was the lowest monthly increase since January of last year, slowing from the 0.79% rise seen in the previous month, although not enough to prevent annual inflation from hitting its highest since July. Data from statistics agency INEI showed that consumer prices rose 8.66% in the 12 months through January, remaining near a quarter-century peak reached last year, though below a projection made by Economy Minister Alex Contreras last month.
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