IPCA
Inflation rate in May is 0.13%, the lowest result for the month since 2006
June 07, 2019 09h00 AM | Last Updated: June 07, 2019 05h25 PM
Influenced by the 0.56% deflation in the price of food and beverages, the Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), released today by the IBGE, fell from 0.57%, in April, to 0.13%, in May. That is the lowest result for a month of May since 2006, when the index was 0.10%. The indicator recorded a cumulative decrease of 2.22% in the year and of 4.66% in the last 12 months.
According to Pedro Kislanov, Price Index analyst at the IBGE, inflation deceleration over the month was mainly due to important decreases in the groups of food and beverages, which fell from 0.63% in April to -0.56% in May; transportation, with a decrease from 0.94% to 0.07%, and health and personal care, from 1.51% to 0.59%.
“After a hike in April, the prices of food items of major relevance to the basket fell due to the increased offer of tomato, fruits and 2nd-crop beans. In transportation, there was a decrease of 21.82% in the price of airfares. In Health and personal care, the rise of 2.25% in medicines in April, due to the annual adjustment, hit 0.82% in May”.
In the group food and beverages, tomato, after recording an increase of 28.64% in April, fell by 15.08% in May. Pinto beans had a more significant decrease, having changed from -9.09% to -13.04%. In spite of that, the product rose 62.07% in the year. Fruits also had more significant deflation over the month, having changed from -0.71% to -2.87%.
The main positive contribution to the monthly index of May came from Housing, which recorded an increase of 0.98% and had an impact of 0.15 percentage points. That group was mainly influenced by the rise of electricity (2.18%), due adjustments and the introduction of the yellow tariff flag, which added R$ 0.01 per kW/h consumed in electricity bills.
