Brazil's consumer price index rose 4.64% in June from a year earlier, slowing from May's 4.72% increase, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. On a month-on-month basis, prices rose 0.16%, decelerating from 0.58% in May and coming in below the 0.31% forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. The slowdown in the annual rate is the first since February, though it remains above the central bank's target of 3% plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. Food and beverage prices fell month-on-month for the first time since November last year, the biggest factor holding down the overall increase. Brazil's central bank last month cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 14.25%, the third consecutive meeting with a reduction, and a senior economist at Intel noted that underlying inflation is not re-accelerating, suggesting that monetary tightening is working.