In December, the Extended Consumer Price Index -15 (IPCA-15) changed by 0.35%, a figure which is very similar to the November result (0.37%).  The Special Extended Consumer Price Index (IPCA-E) ends the year at 2.96%, a rate is which is significantly below that in 2005 (5.88%). For the calculation of IPCA-15, prices collected from November 14 to December 11 were compared to those in effect from October 12 to November 13. The indicator refers to families with income ranging from 1 to 40 minimum salaries and encompasses the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, São Paulo, Belém, Fortaleza, Salvador and Curitiba, besides Brasília and Goiânia. The methodology used is the same as in IPCA; the difference lies in the period of data collection. IPCA-E is IPCA-15 accumulated in periods.

In the IPCA-15 of December, the change of the group food products and beverages was 0.48%, significantly lower than in November (1.35%). The highlight was the interruption of the rise of meats (from 4.23% in November to -0.07%) in December) and of chicken (from 13.03% to -0.96%).

One of them was apparel, which has risen 1.02% (versus 0.45% in November) with the approach of Christmas celebrations. The prices of men’s apparel rose by 1.69%; for women’s apparel the change was 1.57%.

Cigarettes also a positive change (4.66% in December versus 1.94% in November), considering the rises in the metropolitan areas of São Paulo (7.92%), Porto Alegre (8.13%) and Curitiba (9.66%).

However, the main impact (0.07 percentage point) was urban buses, whose fares rose 2.01%, after stability in November. This result was strongly affected by the readjustment of 15.00% in São Paulo, which went into effect on November 30^th. It caused change of 6.50% in this item in that metropolitan area. In Rio de Janeiro, there were readjustments of urban bus fares as well, 5.26% on December 4^th, contributing 1.58% to this area in the month.

The fares of intercity buses also rose (from 0.29% to 1.63%), due to readjustments in the metropolitan areas of São Paulo (5.57%), Salvador (4.39%) and Fortaleza (1.65%). 

Among the indexes by area, the highest result was that in Goiânia (0.71%), an area in which food products rose 1.16%. The lowest figures were observed in Rio de Janeiro (0.13%) and Porto Alegre (0.14%).

IPCA-15 has ended the year at 2.96%, practically half of the result in 2005 (5.88%). The indexes by area were between 2.06% (São Paulo) and 4.92% (Belo Horizonte), as seen below:

In the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, which had the highest index in the year (4.92%), several items were above the national average. The highlights were urban buses 912.12%), cooking gas (11.32%), electricity (5.90%), alcohol (5.46%) and food products (4.63%).

Considering the nine groups of products and services, the highest hike was personal expenses (7.07%). Both the group communication (-0.20%) and household articles (-2.75%), the lowest changes in the year, had deflation. The results by group can be seen below: