The Extended National Consumer Price Index-15 (IPCA-15) recorded a change of 0.53% in February, being below the rate of 0.65% of January. The index changed by 1.18% in the first two months of the year. IPCA-15 accumulated in the last 12 months was 5.98%, less than in the immediately previous 12 months (6.44%). In February 2011, the rate was 0.97%.This is the first release of IPCA-15 using the new weighting structure, which incorporates expenditure figures from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (POF) 2008-2009, as informed in September 2011.

The methodology and the criteria used to obtain new weights are available at

www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/indicadores/precos/inpc_ipca/defaultsrm.shtm

The group Education, with a high of 5.66%, recorded the biggest increase and accounted for the main impact as a group. With a contribution of 0.25 percentage points to the monthly index, it was responsible for 47% of the rate. This result reflects the price rises observed in the beginning of the school year, among which the main highlight fees of regular courses, which rose 6.95% and represented the main individual contribution, in this case (0.19 percentage points). Except for Fortaleza, the only metropolitan area which did not record decrease due to the date of its price readjustment, the other areas recorded changes ranging between 2.19% (Porto Alegre) and 10.68% (Recife). Fees of other courses (languages, computer science, etc.) registered a change of 7.09%.

The group Personal expenses (from 0.55% in January to 1.07% in February), influenced by domestic personnel (from 0.76% to 1.78%), recorded the second main change in the month, representing impact of 0.11 percentage points. Other highlights were manicure services (from 0.68% to 2.01%) and hairdressers (from 0.44% to 0.84%).

Household articles (from –0.68% in January to 0.22% in February) also had results above expectations versus the previous month, mainly due to the contributions of household appliances (from –1.67% to 1.22%) and the item furniture (from –1.07% to 0.44%).

Whereas non-food products remained almost unchanged, having fallen from 0.62% to 0.60% from January to February, the group Food products and beverages (from 1.25% in January  to 0.29% in February) faced significant decrease of the pace of rise, especially concerning food products consumed out of the household (from 1.47% to 0.65%). Meats (from 2.03% to –2.10%) represented impact of -0.06 percentage points, the most significant falling result. Several food products became cheaper from one month to the other, mainly tomatoes (from 11.22% to –3.82%), refined sugar (from -1.58% to –2.72%), crystallized sugar (from –1.52% to –1.82%) and bread rolls (from 0.76% to –0.41%).

Besides food products, the groups Housing (from 0.54% in January to 0.48% in February), Apparel (from 0.19% to -0.33%), Transportation (from 0.79% to -0.05%) and Communication (from 0.37% to 0.33%) also recorded decrease of rates from one month to the other.

The highest index by area was recorded by Rio de Janeiro (1.23%), as a result, mainly, of the rise in the fares of urban buses (5.77%) considering the rise of 10% in effect since the first day of the year, and also, of salaries of domestic workers (7.65%). The lowest index was that of Fortaleza (-0.01%), which recorded a result of -0.20% for food products. 

In order to calculate IPCA-15, prices were collected from January 14 to February 10 and compared to those in force from December 14 to January 13. 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.