Prévia da inflação
Food products drive rise of 0.95% in IPCA-15, biggest increase in March since 2015
March 25, 2022 09h00 AM | Last Updated: March 26, 2022 12h47 AM
The Extended National Consumer Price Index 15 (IPCA), the official inflation preview, increased by 0.95% in March, 0.04 percentage points (p.p.) above the February rate (0.99%). It is as the highest change for a month of March since 2015 (1.24%).
IPCA-E, which is IPCA-15 cumulative in the quarter, stayed at 2.54% in the period January-March, above the rate of 2.21% of the same period in 2021. Cumulative IPCA-15 in 12 months is 10.79%, above the 10.76% registered in the 12 previous months. In March 2021, the rate was was of 0.93%.In March 2021, the rate was was of 0.93%.
Of the nine groups of products and services surveyed, eight had positive changes. The highlight was food and beverages, with the biggest change (1.95%) and the main impact (0.40 p. p.) and acceleration from the previous month (1.20%). Health and personal care, whose prices rose 1.30% after the decrease observed in February (-0.02%) accounted for the second main impact. Transportation was in the third position, with 0.15 p.p of contribution and an increase of 0.68%. Altogether, the three groups accounted for about 75% of the total impact of IPCA-15 in March.
The rise of food products was drivem by food at home (2.51%) due to the influence of climatic factors in the South and rain in the Southeast.
As a result, prices of carrots had a steep increase (45.66%) and significant increases in the prices of tomato (15.46%) and fruits (6.34%). Other rising prices were those of potato (11.81%), hen eggs (6.53%) and long life milk (3.41%). In terms of decreases, chicken pieces (-1.82%), whose prices had fallen in February (-1.31%) stood out.
In the group Transportation, prices of gasoline rose 0.83%, the most relevant subitem in IPCA-15 (6.40%) and third main impact on the monthly index (0.05 p.p). The risewas due to the price adjustment of fuels (18.77%) in refineries, on March 11. The prices of diesel (4.10%) and vehicular gas (5.89%) also rose. Ethanol was the exception, with a decrease of 4.70%. Another highlight was the result of airfares (-7.55%), whose prices fell for the third consecutive month.
Also in the group Transportation, among the increases, it is worth highlighting the performance of new cars (0.83%) and used cars (0.70%), although there was deceleration in relation to the previous month (when there were decreases of 2.64% and 2.10%, respectively).
In public transportation, the positive change of urban buses (1.04%) results from adjustments in Curitiba (10.67%): adjustment of 22.23%, since March 1st; Recife (9.07%): adjustement of 9.33%, since February 13th; and Fortaleza (0.26%): adjustment of 8.55%, in effect since January 15th. There was also price adjustment of intercity buses (0.37%) in Curitiba (1.51%) and in Rio de Janeiro (4.12%), both starting on March 1st.
Other highlights were Housing (0.53%) and Household appliances (1.47%), with the latter recording the biggest change in the monthly index. The other groups stood between 0.04% of Communication and 0.95% of Apparel.
More about the IPCA-15
The National System of Consumer Price Indexes – SNIPC continuously and systematically produces consumer price indexes. Having been released on the Internet since May 2000, the IPCA-15 differs from the IPCA only in the period of price collection, which is usually from day 16 of the previous month until day 15 of the reference month, as well as in the geographic coverage.
Today, the target population of the IPCA-15 encompasses households with earnings between 1 and 40 minimum wages, whatever the source, living in 11 urban areas of the regions included in the SNIPC, which are: metropolitan areas of Belém, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, as well as the Federal District and the municipality of Goiânia.
