The National Consumer Price Index – IPCA of February changed by 0.55% and was 0.07 percentage points below the rate of January (0.48%). Considering the index accumulated in the first two months of the year, IPCA was 1.03%. In terms of the last twelve months, the result was 5.90%, slightly above the rate of the immediately previous twelve months (5.84%). In February 2008, the rate was 0.49%.

The group Education, with rise of 4.77% and contribution of 0.33 percentage points, accounted for 60% of the February index. Reflecting the readjustments which are typically seen in the beginning of the year, school fares rose 5.64%, with contribution of 0.27 percentage points. By area, the rise of school fares changed from 4.67% (Curitiba) to 7.79% (Recife), without changes in Fortaleza, since the state of Ceará has a different period of price readjustments. The change in the fares of other courses (languages, computer science, etc.) was 5.88%.

The other groups, except for Communication, presented lower rates than in January, as shown in the Table below. 

Food products rose 0.75% in January, but the change decreased 0.27% in February. Several products decelerated or had their prices reduced. The table below shows the main items in terms of falling prices:

In terms of non-food products, the rate of 0.63% was above the 0.40% of January, as a consequence of the seasonal hike of Education.

Most of the groups of products and services surveyed presented deceleration of prices from January to February, for example, Transportation (from 0.35% to 0.24%), which were affected by the reduced change of urban bus fares (from 3.24% to 1.03%).

The group Apparel (from 0.05% to -0.24%) was the only one to present deflation. Among the indexes by area, Recife (0.87%) had the best result, mainly due to the rates of urban bus fares (4.88%), gasoline (2.35%) and alcool (5.88%). Fortaleza (0.02%) had the lowest result.

See the monthly results by area surveyed in the table below.

To calculate the monthly index, prices collected from January 29 to February 27 (reference) were compared to those charged between December 30 and January 28 (base). IPCA has been calculated by IBGE since 1980, and it refers to families with monthly income ranging from 1 to 40 minimum wages, from whatever source, encompassing nine metropolitan areas in the country, besides the municipality of Goiânia, and Brasília.

In February, INPC was 0.31%

The National Consumer Price Index – INPC changed by 0.31% in February, being significantly below the result of 0.64% registered in January. The INPC accumulated in the year was 0.95%; in the last twelve months, that is, 6.25%, being below the rate of the immediately previous twelve months (6.43%). In February 2008, INPC was 0.48%.

Among the indexes by area, Recife (0.85%) had the highest result, mainly due to urban bus fares (4.88%), gasoline (2.35%) and alcohol (5.88%). The lowest result occurred in Fortaleza (-0.13%).

The table below presents indexes by area surveyed.

To calculate the monthly index, prices collected from January 29 to February 27 (reference) were compared to those charged between December 30 and January 28 (base). INPC has been calculated by IBGE since 1979. It refers to families with monthly income ranging from 01 to 06 minimum wages, from whatever source and with a salaried head of household. INPC encompasses nine metropolitan areas in the country, besides the municipality of Goiânia, and Brasília.