With a result of 0.56% in May, the Extended National Consumer Price Index- 15 (IPCA-15) was slightly below the index of April (0.59%)...

With a result of 0.56% in May, the Extended National Consumer Price Index- 15 (IPCA-15) was slightly below the index of April (0.59%). The result accumulated in the year was 2.75%, higher than in the similar period of 2007 (1.88%). Also, in the last 12 months, the rate of 5.25% was higher than the result of 4.94% relative to the 12 immediately previous months.

Food products continued to influence the index, presenting hike of 1.26% in May, close to the result of April (1.28%) and the group was responsible exactly for half of the IPCA-15 of the month: 0.28 percentage points.  Several food products turned more expensive, especially rice (11.94%), bread rolls (5.84%), and pasteurized milk (3.48%).  Food products reached the highest result in the metropolitan area of Recife, with 2.81%, followed by Goiânia and Curitiba, with 2.21% and 1.99%, respectively.  The lowest result came from Salvador and Fortaleza, areas which registered 0.50% in the group.

Considering the result in the year, the growing rate of the prices of the group Food products and beverages reached 6.18%, standing out the metropolitan area of Belém with increase in prices of 9.89% while São Paulo was the metropolitan area which brought the lowest rate in the year: 4.51%.

In relation to non-food products, stood out medicines, 1.73% higher as a consequence of the readjustment authorized by the Chamber of Regulation of the Medicines Market (Cmed) in April 09, which influenced some products.  The tariffs of banking services (5.28%), cleaning products and salaries of household workers, which increased 1.67% and 1.20%, respectively, also stood out in May.

Among the indexes by areas, the highest was registered in Recife, reaching 1.28% due to the increase of 2.81% in food products as well as increase in items such as cooking gas (9.07%) and electricity (1.59%).  The lowest result came from Belo Horizonte (0.13%), influenced by the decrease of 13.92% in the accounts of electricity in the month, as a consequence of the reduction of 17.11% in the tariffs in April 8.

To calculate IPCA-15, prices collected from April 15 to May 15 were compared to those charged from March 15 to April 14.  The indicator refers to families with income ranging from 1 to 40 minimum salaries and covers the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, São Paulo, Belém, Fortaleza, Salvador and Curitiba, besides Brasília and the municipality of Goiânia.  The methodology used is the same as IPCA; the difference lies in the period of data collection.