The Extended National Consumer Price Index - IPCA – of May recorded a change of 0.36%, a little more than half...

IPCA has been calculated by IBGE since 1980. It refers to families with monthly income of one to 40 minimum wages, whatever the source, and it encompasses nine metropolitan regions in the country, besides the municipalities of Goiânia and Brasília. In order to estimate the index of the month, the prices collected from April 28 to May 28 of 2012 (reference) were compared with the prices in force from March 29 of 2011 to March 27 of 2012 (base).

INPC changes 0.55% in May

The National Consumer Price Index - (INPC) recorded a change of 0.55% in May, below  April’s result of 0.64% . As a result, the year closed in 2.29%, also below the rate of 3.48% concerning the same period of 2011. Considering the last twelve months, the index was at 4.86%, close to the rate relative to the twelve immediately previous months (4.88%). In May of 2011 the INPC was at 0.57%.

Food products recorded a change of 0.89% in May, while non-food products increased by 0.42%. In April, the results were at 0.57% and 0.67%, respectively.

Among the regional indexes, the greatest occurred in Salvador (0.84%), due to water and sewage fees (11.54%), which suffered an average adjustment of 12.89% started on May 1st, and to electricity (5.75%), which was adjusted at 6.15% from April 22 on. The lowest index was seen in Brasília (0.30%), where food products decreased 0.09%. The table with results by region is as it follows:

INPC has been calculated by IBGE since 1979. It refers to families with monthly income of one to six minimum wages, with a salaried head of the family, and it encompasses nine metropolitan regions in the country, besides the municipalities of Goiânia and Brasília. In order to estimate the index of the month, the prices collected from March 29 to April 27 of 2012 (reference) were compared with the prices in force from March the first to March 28 of 2012 (base).

The Extended National Consumer Price Index - IPCA – of May recorded a change of 0.36%, a little more than half of the rate of 0.64% recorded in April. As a result, the accumulated index of the year closed at 2.24%, quite below the rate of 3.71% relative to the same period of 2011. Considering the last 12 months, the index was at 4.99%, the lowest result since September of 2010 (4.70%) and below the rate relative to the 12 immediately previous months (5.10%).It, therefore, kept the downward trend initiated between September and October of the previous year, coming from 7.31% to 6.97%. In May of 2011, the rate was at 0.47%.

The complete publication can be accessed at

 https://www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/precos/inpc_ipca/defaultinpc.shtm

The results by group of products and services surveyed are as it follows:

Among the regional indexes, the highest occurred in Salvador (0.72%), due to water and sewage fees (11.56%), which suffered an average adjustment of 12.89% started on May 1^st, and to electricity (5.78%), which was adjusted at 6.15% from April 22 on. The lowest indexes occurred in Brasília (0.06%) and Rio de Janeiro (0.07%). In Brasília, food products decreased 0.04%. In Rio de Janeiro, the item domestic worker posted a drop of 1.05%. The table with results by region is shown below:

Cigarettes, even though keeping the top positions of the main impacts, with 0.04 percentage points, exerted influence in the reduction of IPCA from one month to the other, since it came from 15.04% to 4.64%. This result caused rises in April which were coupled with the new prices of May.  Moreover, also in the group of personal expenses, domestic workers stood out, with a change of 0.66%, whereas in April they had posted a 1.86% increase. As a result, personal expenses came from 2.23%, the biggest result of the group in April, to 0.60% in May.

This month, apparel recorded the highest result (even though the pace of the price growth diminished), coming from 0.98% to 0.89%.

In medicines, the change was of 0.98% in May against 1.58% in April, reflecting part of the adjustment in force since March 31, accumulating, in the year, a rise of 3.28%. Medicines were the major responsible for the group health and personal care, which came from 0.96% to 0.66%.

The expenses with communication presented a drop of 0.19%, over the previous month, when it had registered a rise of 0.46%. This is a consequence of the charges of calls from fixed to mobile telephony, which were revised down to the prices previous to the adjustment, eliminating the increase seen from March 11 on – which led the item fixed telephone to a downfall of 1.40% against a rise of 0.57%. The mobile phone bills had a smaller increase, from 1.00% to 0.62%, complementing the average adjustment of 6% in the charges of one of the operators, in force since April 15.

As to transportation, the expenses also became lower, going to -0.58% against 0.10% in the previous month. The major individual down impact was exerted by airline tickets, with -0.06 percentage points due to the reduction of 10.85% in the fares charged. Besides, other items presented downfalls, with a highlight to used automobiles (from 0.38% in April to -1.40% in May), ethanol (from 0.81% to -1.34%) and gasoline (from -0.27% to -0.52%). Some, on the other hand, posted price rises, with a highlight to voluntary vehicle insurance  (from 1.14% to 1.67%) and taxi (from 1.44% to 1.16%).

Concerning increases, water and sewage fees also stood out, with 2.32% in May over 0.98% in the previous month. Account changes were recorded in Goiânia (5.37%), a result of the adjustment of 5.43% in force since May the first; Belo Horizonte (5.54%), with an adjustment of 5.44% on May 13, coupled with the rise attributed to the change in the charging method; Fortaleza (8.36%),  with an adjustment of 12.00% since April 30; and Salvador (11.56%), with an adjustment of 12.89% since May the first.

The water and sewage fee coupled with electricity led housing expenses to a rise of 0.80%, the same result of the previous month. In electricity, the change went from 0.46% in April to 0.72% in May under the influence, especially, of the increases occurred in Salvador (5.78%), whose adjustment of 6.15% occurred on April 22, and in Recife (6.84%), with an adjustment of 5.41% since April 29. On the other hand, the electricity fees stayed 8.20% cheaper in Fortaleza (-7,91%) since  April 22. In housing expenses, the highlights were: residential rent (from 0.82% in April to 0.63% in May), condominium fees (from 1.01% to 0.47%), cleaning articles (from 1.38% to 0.20%) and cooking gas (from 0.65% to 0.13%).

In house appliances, the change was of 0.46% (even though they had posted a drop of 0.90% in April). Furniture articles came from -0.49% to 0.26%. They stood out in the group household articles, which came from - 0.79% to -0.17%.

Thus, while the group of the non-food products had a more subtle growth, going to 0.25% over 0.68% in April, food products rose from 0.51% to 0.73%.

As to food products, the prices of beans rose 9.10% in May - quite less than the 10.23% up in April, accounting for an increase of 49.25% in the year, due to the lowest supply of the product, whose harvest was affected in the producing regions because of climate problems coupled with the reduction of the planted area. Following the rise of beans, rice became more expensive (from 0.44% in April to 2.11% in May), as well as the products listed in the table below: