The Extended National Consumer Price Index 15 - IPCA-15 changed 0.39% in January and stood above the rate of 0.35% of December by 0.04 percentage points (p.p.). After the change of 0.31% in January 2017, this was the lowest rate for January since 1994, when the Real Plan was created. The cumulative index in the last 12 months registered 3.02%, standing above the 2.94% rate recorded in the immediately previous 12 months. The complete data of the IPCA-15 can be accessed here.

Although Transportation registered the highest figure among the groups (0.86%), Food and Beverages, by changing from 0.35% to 0.39% between December and January, was the main responsible for the increase of the IPCA-15 rate. In the metropolitan area of Curitiba, food products hit 1.54%, whereas the rise in Porto Alegre was of 0.16%. The results of the groups of products and services surveyed are shown in the following table:

Interrupting the sequence of drops recorded over the last seven months, the group of Food and Beverages (0.76% and 0.19 p.p.) increased once again, pressed by food consumed at home, which changed 0.97%. The prices of some products rose a lot, even reversing the drop posted in December, like tomatoes (19.58%), potatoes (11.70%) and fruits (4.39%). Meat changed 1.53%, after rising 0.41% in December. Other products that were falling accelerated the drop, like carioca beans (from -5.02% to -5.86%) and long-life milk (from -0.24% to -1.69%).

In food consumed away from home, the areas varied from a drop of 0.97%, in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre, to a rise of 2.33% in Curitiba.

Transportation (0.86%) registered the highest rise among the groups, influenced by fuels, whose prices increased 2.54%, highlighted by gasoline, which recorded the highest impact (0.10 p.p.). The price of the liter became, on average, 2.36% higher, reflecting the adjustments authorized by Petrobras in the refineries, which added up to 2.75% in the data collection period of the IPCA-15 (December 14, 2017 to January 15, 2018).

Besides gasoline (2.36%), the expenditures with Transportation were pressed by ethanol (3.86%) and by urban (0.43%) and intercity (0.94%) bus fares.

Concerning urban buses, the rise of 0.43% reflected the changes reported in Salvador (1.20%), which reflected the adjustment of 2.78% in the fare since January 2 and in São Paulo (1.32%), where it was adjusted by 5.26% since January 7. Still in São Paulo, train (1.32%) and subway (1.32%) were also adjusted by 5.26% on the same date.

The group of Housing (-0.41%) was the only one to drop this month. This was due to electricity bills, which became 3.97% cheaper and impacted -0.15 p.p., the strongest downward impact. It was the result of the return of the green tariff flag on January 1st, with no additional cost to the fares charged to consumers, replacing the red tariff flag level 1, which implied an additional cost of R$0.03 per each kWh consumed. The areas surveyed varied from a drop of 7.54% in Belém to a rise of 5.43%, in Porto Alegre, where the adjustment of 29.60% was in force in one of the concessionaires since December 21.

Still in the group of Housing, water and sewage fees (1.48%) reflected the adjustments of 5.25% in Rio de janeiro (5.26%), in force since November 27, and of 8.43% in Belém (8.43%) since December 12. Both adjustments were fully included in January, as they were not captured in the IPCA-15 of December. The change of 3.26% in São Paulo was also due to the partial capture, in the IPCA-15 of December, of the adjustment of 7.89% in force since November 10.

The index of piped gas (1.28%) is a result of the adjustment of 2.77% in the fares in Rio de Janeiro since January 1st.

Both the item domestic workers (0.15%) in the group of Personal expenses (0.19%) and manpower for small repairs (0.15%) in the group of Housing had 1/12 of the percentage of the adjustment of the new national minimum wage captured.

The other groups stood between the rate of 0.06% registered in Household articles and of 0.41% in Health and personal care.

Concerning the regional indexes, the highest one was registered in the metropolitan areas of São Paulo and Curitiba (0.52%), where the prices of gasoline, which rose 2.79% and 3.56%, respectively, and ethanol (4.12% and 5.14%) stood out. Still in Curitiba, the increase of 3.91% in meals away from home should be highlighted. The lowest index was recorded in Belém (-0.06%), under the influence of the drops of 7.54% in electricity fare and 9.40% in airfare. See below the table of monthly results by area surveyed.

In order to compute the IPCA-15, prices were collected from December 14, 2017 to January 15, 2018 (reference)  and compared with those in force from November 14 to December 13, 2017 (base). The indicator refers to families with monthly income of 1 to 40 minimum wages and it encompasses the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, São Paulo, Belém, Fortaleza, Salvador, Curitiba, as well as Brasília and Goiânia. The methodology is the same as the one used for the IPCA; the difference lies in the period of price collection and in the geographic coverage.