The Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA-15) changed by 0.72% in April, accelerating in relation to the 0.54% rate in March. The 0.72% change is only behind the April 2015 rate (1.07%). In the year, the IPCA-15 has accumulated an increase of 1.91% and, in 12 months, of 4.71% , a result higher than the 4.18% recorded in the preceding 12 months. In April 2018, the rate was 0.21%.

Just the group Communication (-0.05%) presented deflation from March to April, as the table below shows. In the highs, Transportation had the biggest change, 1.31%, and the greatest impact, 0.24 percentage points (pp). The second greatest impact (0.23 pp) stood with the group Food and beverages (0.92%), which decelerated in relation to the previous month rate (1.28%). The group Health and Personal Care recorded the second biggest change (1.13%), contributing with 0.14 pp of impact. Together, the three groups corresponded to nearly 85% of this month's index The other changes ranged between 0.06%, in Education, and 0.57% in  Wearing apparel.

The group Transportation, which had registered a high of 0.59% in March, accelerated to 1.31%, mainly because of fuels (3.00%) and, particularly, gasoline (3.22%), which had the highest individual impact in the month's index (0.14 pp). The only area with price decrease in gasoline was Goiânia (-1.62%). Conversely, the greatest high was in the Metropolitan Area of  Porto Alegre, where fuel prices in the pump rose, on average, 9.73% in comparison with the previous month.  Ethanol (from 2.64% to 2.74%) and diesel fuel (from 0.67% to 1.06%) also increases, with a slight acceleration in the price levels from one month to the other.

Also in Transportation, the highlight is the change in Urban buses (1.04%), due to the increases seen in the following areas:

• Porto Alegre(8.30%) – increase of 9.30%, in effect on March 13 ;
  • Recife (4.23%) – increase of 7.81%, in effect on March 2;
  • Curitiba (3.21%) – increase of 5.88%, in effect on March 2;
  • Salvador (3.20%) – increase of 8.11%, in effect on April 2.

Other public transportation, as trains (3.05%) ans subways (0.68%), also had their prices increased in some of the surveyed areas. In the first one, the high reflects the increase of 27.30% in the fees in Porto Alegre (23.89%) in effect since March 13. In the second, the result is due to the increase of 6.98% in the fees in Rio de Janeiro (2.79%), which came into force on April 2.

Airfares (5.54%) also increased from March to April, although they decelerated in relation to the previous month, when the high was of 7.54%.

In the group Food and beverages (0.92%), food at homechanged 1.43%, after increasing 1.91% in March. The highlight was with tomatoes (27.84%), the second biggest individual contribution to the month's index, with 0.07 pp. Meat (1.55%) and fruit (3.36%), both with 0.04 pp also contributed to this result. Onions, which had deflation in March (-0.34%), increases 13.44% in April, and potatoes, whose high had been 25.59% in the previous month decelerated, changing 6.10%.  Carioca beans fell 2.38% in the month, against the 41.44% high in March.

Food away (0.00%) in turn, stood stable from one moth to the other. Whereas meals decreased 0.27% in April, snacks recorded high of 0.46%.

The result of the group health and personal care (1.13%) was mainly influenced by the item personal hygiene (2.61%), whose impact was of 0.07 pp. Inside this item, the highlight were perfumes, which increased 0.49% in march and accelerated to 6.94% in April. It is worth mentioning that the increase in medicine (0.72%) reflecting part of the annual increase, in force since March 31, whose roof is 4.33%.

In  Housing (0.36%), the item electricity increased 0.58% in April, slightly above the one recorded in March (0.43%). The surveyed areas had changes that go from the decrease of 3.40% in Belo Horizonte, up to the high of 9.46%, in Rio de Janeiro, where average increases of 11.53% and 9.72% were granted in the concessionaires, in force since March 15. On April 1st, the increases were reduced to 8.80% and 7.30%, respectively. 

The result of the item piped gas (0.84%) reflects increases in two areas surveyed. In Curitiba (16.48%), there was full incorporation of the 16.48% increase in the fees, in effect since February 28, and that had not been yet incorporated to the indices. In São Paulo, the decrease of 1.58% is a reflex of the reduction from 11.00% to 9.00% in the increase. It was the first percentage in force since February 1 and, the second, since March 1.

Also in Housing, the change of 0.47% in the water and sewage fee is a consequence of the increased of 15.86% in Fortaleza (11.31%) , in effect on March 24, and of 2.99% in Brasília (1.29%) in effect since April 1st. 

 In  Communication  (-0.05%), the negative change in the month was due to the fall in the price of  landline telephones  (-0.29%), due to the average reduction of 7.50% in the tariffs for calls from landline to mobile phones, as of February 25. On the other hand, the result of the item mail (2.19%) reflects the 13.90% increase, in effect since March 06, in one of the services in Rio de Janeiro (2.19%), the only area to present weight to the item aforementioned in the IPCA-15.

Concerning the indices by area, eight of the 11 areas surveyed had acceleration in the level of prices from March to April. The lowest index was recorded in the municipality of Goiânia (-0.01%) - the only area with deflation - especially due to the price drops in gasoline (-1.62%). The biggest result was in the Metropolitan Area of  Porto Alegre (1.27%), where, besides the high in prices of gasoline (9.73%), there was also increase of 9.30% in the fees of urban buses (8.30%), in force since March 13.

In order to estimate IPCA-15, the prices collected from March 16 to April 12 of 2019 (reference) were compared with the ones in force from February 13 to March 15 of 2019 (base).  The indicator refers to households with monthly income of 1 to 40 minimum wages and it encompasses the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, São Paulo, Belém, Fortaleza, Salvador, Curitiba, as well as Brasília and Goiânia. The methodology is the same as the one used for the IPCA; the difference lies in the period of price collection and in the geographic coverage.