Brazilian statistics agency data indicate that the annual rate of consumer price inflation in Brazil slowed to 2.95 percent last year, the lowest rate in any year since 1998, Agencia Brasil reports.

The news agency quotes the Brazilian Ministry of Planning, Development and Management as saying in a written statement: “With inflation under control, the country can continue the process of economic recovery in progress by generating jobs and increasing family incomes.”

Inflation last year was slower than the officially forecast rate of between 3 percent and 6 percent, Agencia Brasil says.

Separately, Reuters quotes a written statement issued by the Brazilian central bank as attributing the slower-than-forecast rate to declines in food prices due to a bumper harvest.

According to the statement, the rate of inflation in the prices consumers pay for everything except food was 4.54 percent, Reuters says.