SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Inflation in Brazil sped up in the month to mid-September after briefly dipping into negative territory a month earlier, though it still undershot market expectations, data from statistics agency IBGE showed on Thursday.

The figures come as Brazil’s central bank signaled it was entering a “new stage” of steady interest rates for a prolonged period, following an aggressive monetary tightening aimed at curbing sticky inflation.

Consumer prices as measured by the IPCA-15 index rose 0.48% in the period, IBGE said, up from a 0.14% decline last month. The reading, nonetheless, came in below the 0.51% increase forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.

In the 12 months to mid-September, inflation reached 5.32%, below the 5.36% expected in the Reuters poll but still far abov

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