The Extended National Consumer Price Index-15 (IPCA-15) has changed by -0.05% in August...

The Extended National Consumer Price Index -15 (IPCA-15) has changed by -0.05% in August, with less significant decrease than in July (-0.09%).  Considering this result, change in the year is now 3.21%, above that of the same period in the previous year (2.95%). In terms of the last twelve months, the index was 4.44%, lower than that of the immediately previous months (4.74%). In August 2009, the rate was 0.23%.

The rate of -0.05% recorded in IPCA-15 remains being strongly influenced by food products, the price of which has fallen 0.68% in the month, resulting in contribution o f -0.15 percentage points to the index result. There has been fall of prices in all the areas surveyed, and the most significant results are those of Belo Horizonte (-1.52%) and Salvador (-1.86%). In July, there was change of 0.80% in the group Food products and beverages.

Prices of food products have remained on a downward trend from one month to the other, being the highlights potatoes (-22.06%), tomatoes (-21.89%), onions (-9.26%), crystallized sugar (-8.10%), green vegetables (–8.00%), carioca beans (- 4.78%) and refined sugar (-3.96%), besides pasteurized milk (-1.93%). Potatoes accounted for the most significant contribution: 0.06 percentage points.

Even considering the fall of food products, the prices of “meals out of the household” 90.71%) remains on an upward trend, recording the biggest contribution in the month: 0.03 percentage points, together with the item meat, which recorded 0.03 percentage points and 1.36% of rise in prices.

Non-food products had a rate of 0.14%, slightly above the 0.12% of July. The group Education (which changed from –0.02% to 0.37%), contributing with 0.03 percentage points to the result of the month, reflected the results obtained in the collection conducted in August in order to describe the scenario in the second semester of the school year. Formal education courses (elementary school) changed by 0.33% and other courses (computer science, languages, etc.) changed by 0.97%.

The group Transportation changed from -0.36% to 0.02%. The liter of ethanol, which had fallen by 3.15% in July, now costs 4.99% more, whereas that of gasoline, with -0.53% in July, rose 0.31% in August. Besides, there was less significant fall of new cars (from -.16% to - 0.56%) and used ones (from -2.22% to -0.12%), and also of airline fares (from 9.16% to -10.31%).

Among the indexes by area, the highest one was recorded in Curitiba (0.38%) and the lowest one in Salvador (– 0.55%) as shown in the table below:

To calculate IPCA-15, prices collected from July 14 to August 13 were compared to those in effect from June 15 to July 13. The indicator refers to families with monthly income ranging from one to 40 minimum wages 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 is the same as that used for IPCA; the difference lies in the period of price collection.