(Bloomberg) -- Colombia’s inflation unexpectedly accelerated last month after the central bank’s Jan. 31 decision to pause its rate cutting cycle on concern about renewed price pressures.

Official data released Friday showed consumer prices rose 5.22% in January from the same month a year earlier, above the 5.10% median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. That’s up from the December reading of a 5.20% year-on-year rise.

Colombia overshot its inflation target of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point, in 2024 for a fourth straight year.

The monetary policy committee last week unexpectedly held borrowing costs unchanged at 9.5%, halting a series of interest rate cuts that started in 2023 as policymakers fret about the worsening fiscal outlook, a large minimum wage hike and tariff threats from US President Donald Trump.

Central bank economists are now forecasting a slower convergence of inflation to target and forecast that prices rises will finish 2025 at 4%. The almost 10% minimum wage increase, the acceleration of producer price inflation and the rebound of inflation expectations are challenging policymakers, board members said at the meeting.

Some economists estimate the monetary policy committee will turn dovish after President Gustavo Petro appointed Laura Moisa and Cesar Giraldo as central bank co-directors. The central bank next policy meeting is at the end of March.

--With assistance from Rafael Gayol and Andrea Jaramillo.