The Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) of April changed 0.67% and stood below the 0.92% rate registered in March by 0.25 percentage points.  As a result, in the first quarter of the year, the change moved to 2.86%, above the 2.50% rate of the same period in 2013. Considering the last 12 months, the index stood at 6.28%, above the 6.15% rate corresponding to the prior 12 month-period. In April 2013, the rate was at 0.55%.

The complete publication of the survey can be accessed at

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

Food and beverages (from 1.92% in March to 1.19% in April) and Transportation (from 1.38% to 0.32%), which recorded deceleration in the rise of prices, accounted for the reduction of IPCA in April. Even so, the group of food presented not only the highest change (1.19%) but also the main impact in the month (0.30 percentage points):

In the group Food and beverages there was reduction in both food at home, which changed from 2.43% to 1.52%, and food away from home, which changed from 0.96% to 0.57%. Some products, after the significant rise, got even cheaper in relation to the previous month. That is the case of tomatoes, which reached a price 32.85% higher in April and which fell by 1.94% in April. The main ones were:

Despite the lower increase, a big amount of the food items kept their high prices, although some of them rose less than in the previous month:

In the group of Transportation, with 0.32%, differently from the increase of 1.38% in March, there was decrease of 1.87% in air fares , which had already presented rise of 26.49% in the previous month. Besides, both fuels and buses and cars recorded lower rises. Ethanol came from 4.17% in March and stayed at 0.59% in April, causing gasoline to fall from 0.67% to 0.43%. In relation to the fares of urban buses, , there was change from 0.60% to 0.24%, due to the change of 3.93% recorded in Porto Alegre and 0.38% in Belo Horizonte. In Porto Alegre, the result came from the adjustment of 5.36% which went into effect on the 7th of April.Belo Horizonte reflects only one day, April 6th, of the readjustment of 7.55%, suspended due to a preliminary injunction by the Prosecution of Public Heritage. The fares of intercity bus fares (from 0.47% to 0.35%) also increased less, as well as new cars (from 0.78% to 0.29%) and used ones (from 0.78% to 0.20%).

Besides food and transportation, other three of the nine groups of products and services surveyed recorded reduction of the increase rate from march to April, the highlights being Personal Expenses (from 0.79% to 0.31%), with decrease of 0.02% in the services of manicurist and deceleration of other items such as domestic workers (from 1.28% to 0.58%) and hairdresser (from 0.79% to 0.03%).

From the perspective of the four groups which presented changes above those of March, Health and Personal Care Saúde reached 1.01%, versus 0.43%, as a result of the rise of prices of medicines, with hikes of 1.84%, leading to impact of 0.06 percentage points, the highest in the month. That came as a result of the price adjustment in effect since March 31, established between 1.02% and 5.68%, depending on the type.

In the expenses with Housing (from 0.33% to 0.87%), the highlight is the influence of electricity, whose hike of 1.62% came from the adjustments occurred in the following metropolitan areas: Belo Horizonte (14.24% on April 08), Porto Alegre (a concessionaire, 28.86% on April 19), Fortaleza (16.55% on April 22) and Salvador (14.69% on April 22). The rates of water and sewage became more expensive by 0.76%, considering that in Recife there was hike of 5.91%, and price adjustment of 8.75% starting on March 20, besides Curitiba (5.28%) with price adjustment of 6.40% in effect since March 24.

Among the indexes by region, the highest figures came fromPorto Alegre andFortaleza, both with 1.08%. In Porto Alegre the hike came from the result of urban buses (3.93%), which reflected the price adjustment of 5.36% in effect since the 7th of April, besides electricity (2.73%), with readjustment of 28.86% in the fares of concessionaires since April 19th. In Fortaleza food at home (2,.8%) (2.68%) was significantly higher than the national average (1.52%). he lowest indexes was that fromRio de Janeiro (0.42%), where the item domestic worker recorded decrease of 0.54%. The services of hairdresser (-2.22%) andmanicurist(-0.75%) also recorded decreasing rates.

IPCA has been calculated by IBGE since 1980 and refers to families with monthly income of one to 40 minimum wages, whatever the source, and it encompasses ten Metropolitan Areas in the country, besides Brasília and the municipalities of Goiânia and Campo Grande. In order to measure the index of the month the prices collected from March 29 to April 28 of 2014 (reference) were compared with the ones in force from February 27 to March 28 2014 (base). .

INPC changed by 0.78% in April

O National Consumer Price Index - INPC recorded a change of 0.78% in April and was below the result of 0.82¨of March by 0.04 percentage points. In the first four months of the year the change remained at 2.90&¨above the rate of 2.66% registered in the same period of 2013. Considering the last 12 months, the index was 5.82%, above the rate of 5.62% registered in the previous twelve months. In April 2013, INPC was 0.59%.

Food products rose 1.34% in April, whereas non-food products kept at 0.54%. In March, the results had been 1.88% and 0.37%, respectively.

Among the regional indexes, the highest one came from Fortaleza (1.21%) due to the hike of 2.68% in the prices of food at home, which was above the national average (1.62%). The metropolitan area of São Paulo (0.54%) (0.54%) recorded the highest index.

INPC has been calculated by IBGE since 1979 and refers to families with monthly income of one to 5 minimum wages, and it encompasses ten Metropolitan Areas in the country, besides Brasília and the municipalities of Goiânia and Campo Grande. In order to measure the index of the month the prices collected from March 29 to April 28 of 2014 (reference) were compared with the ones in force from February 27 to March 28 2014 (base). .