The Extended National Consumer Price Index-15 (IPCA- 15) recorded a change of 0.70% in May...

The Extended National Consumer Price Index-15 (IPCA- 15) recorded a change of 0.70% in May, slightly below the result of 0.77% of April.

15 In the accumulated index of the year, the change was at 3.86%, above the 3.16% relative to the same period a year ago. Considering the last 12 months, the index was at 6.51%, slightly above the index of the previous 12 months (6.44%). In May of 2010 the rate was at 0.63%.

The difference of 0.07 percentage points between April (0.77%) and May (0.70%) was mainly due to food products and beverages, which changed from 0.79% to 0.54%, and transportation, from 1.45%, to 0.93%.

The slowest pace of growth in the prices of food products (from 0.79% in April to 0.54% in May) was attributable to in natura products and to those consumed out of the house. Tomato was 9.18% less expensive in the month. Fruits (-2.90%) and greens (-1.51%) also recorded a reduction in their prices. In meals outside – an important item in family expenditure, with a 4.54% weight in the index –, the reduction in growth rate was significant, from 0.91% in April to 0.47% in May. Snacks consumed outside registered a fall of 0.63%. In April they had registered 0.54%.

Conversely, consumers started to pay more for potatoes (from 10.05% in April to 24.22% in May), carioca beans (from 5.99% to 7.27%), pasteurized milk (from 1.58% to 3.82%) and ground coffee (2.10% to 3.02%), among other products.

In transportation (from 1.45% in April to 0.93% in May), the liter of gasoline, which had already increased by 4.28% in April, rose even more in May, by 5.30%. Conversely, ethanol decreased substantially, recording a change of 0.01% (the rate in April had reached 16.40%). That sector was responsible for 0.21 percentage points of impact, the highest in the month, accounting for 30% of IPCA-15. As a result, the high registered by gasoline reached 11.82% this year, influenced by ethanol, which surpassed it and reached 30.70%.

Still regarding transportation, the lower change in the fares of urban buses (from 0.62% in April to 0.14% in May) contributed to the reduction of the rate in the month. Moreover, it is worth mentioning the intermunicipal bus (from 0.87% in April to 0.10% in May), interstate bus (from –1.36% to –0.60%) and air (from –9.39% to –11.54%) fares .

Despite the reduction in transportation and other groups, non-food products accounted for 0.75%, virtually repeating the result of April, when they registered a 0.76% change. That results from the fact that important items recorded a high in the month. For example, medicines saw an average increase in prices (in effect since March 31) of 4.77%, which, in turn, led to a rise of 2.77% in May.

Energy and water and sewage bills also cost higher. The former, with a high of 1.14% after the 0.59% in April, the latter with a high of 1.64% in May, after the 1.06% in April. Rent (from 0.76% in April to 0.95% in May) and condominium fees (from 0.99% to 1.01%), also related to housing expenses, increased month over month. In addition, the expenses with domestic employees’ salary, which reached 1.14% in May, after a 0.54% change in April, were a highlight.

The following table shows the results by group.

Among the regional indexes, the highest rate was registered in Goiânia (1.07%), mainly attributable to water and sewage rates (2.49%), which rose by 5.93% on May 1^st, and to gasoline (6.71%), which impacted the index of the area in 0.43 percentage points. The lowest index was recorded by Belém (0.36%), where medicines saw a 0.68% change, the lowest rate of all the regions surveyed. The following table shows the results by region:

In order to estimate IPCA-15, prices were collected from April 13 to May 13 and compared with those in effect from March 16 to April 12 of 2011.

The indicator refers to families with monthly income of one to forty minimum wages and it encompasses the metropolitan regions of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, São Paulo, Belém, Fortaleza, Salvador, Curitiba, and also Brasília and Goiânia. The methodology is the same as the one used for IPCA; the difference is in the period of price collection.