Alexandre Tombini, the new governor of the Central Bank of Brazil, on Monday marked his first public appearance at the helm by suggesting that the country should aim for a lower inflation target, in a bid to temper concerns that the removal of Henrique Meirelles could weaken the authority's resolve to smother price pressures.

Tombini said at the ceremony to mark the beginning of his four-year term that the central bank would look to shift to an inflation target "similar to those observed in the