IPCA
New calculator updates price changes for IPCA official infaltion
June 15, 2020 10h00 AM | Last Updated: June 16, 2020 10h35 PM
The IBGE has launched an online calculator that adjusts values for the official inflation of the country, measured by the Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA). The user enters the figure, the initial and final months while the tool corrects the value for inflation and shows the cumulative percentage in the period. The IPCA calculator is available on the Institute’s website.
As it is used as a parameter for the inflation target regime and to support informed decisions on interest rates, the IPCA is an indexer of public and private contracts. It is often applied to the calculations of monetary correction to make it up for the losses from the general price increase in the economy. The indicator makes it possible to check if an investment had real gains in the due period or to measure the changes in the population purchasing power.
With the calculator, a person can estimate, for example, how much their salary would increase if corrected for the IPCA. Suppose that in December 2018, an individual earned R$1,500 per month. By entering 01/2019 as the initial date and 12/2019 as the final date in the calculator, the result for this person would be R$1,564.59. That is the salary he/she should receive in January 2020, considering the inflation accumulated throughout 2019.
The calculator can also be used to convert a past value into a current one. For example, Cr$1,500 (Cruzeiros) in May 1985, when the country was facing hyperinflation, would be worth R$3.88 in May 2020. Conversions are possible as of the beginning of the IPCA time series, in January 1980.
The calculations should be considered as a reference only and not as an official value, since, depending on the purpose of the consultation, other costs not considered by the calculator may be involved, such as insurance and other operational charges.
“The calculator was created to assist users in correcting values for inflation. It is a merely referential tool. It takes full months into account. If I enter the period from January to April in the calculator, it will consider every day in January and April. It is not possible to choose specific days,” said IBGE Price Index manager Pedro Kislanov.
Developed by the Online Services Division (Geon), with support from the Department of Price Index (Coinp), the calculator aims at meeting users' demands. You can find it: on the IBGE website, in the indicator menu bar, under the IPCA icon; on the IPCA official page; or on the inflation landing page. With a modern interface, the tool has a responsive design and adapts to any device, whether desktop, mobile or tablet.
“The technology behind the calculator was fully developed by the IBGE. Coinp created the calculation formula and we applied the programming language. The calculation methodology, by the way, is available below the tool, with an example of calculation. We hope the calculator can be useful, ” said IBGE Online Services manager, Leandro Albertini.
40 years of IPCA
The calculator is just one more novelty in the IBGE this year, when the IPCA completes four decades. In February, the indicator started being released based on the new basket of goods and services that was updated to keep up with changes in the consumption habits of the Brazilian population. Prices of application transports and airfares are now collected by virtual robots on Internet pages.
