The Extended National Consumer Price Index 15 (IPCA-15)changed 0.43% in August and stayed 0.16 percentage points (p.p.) below the 0.59% rate in July. In relation to the months of August, this was the highest rate since 2004, when it hit 0.79%. The cumulative index of the year went to 7.36%, above the 4.32% result of the same period last year. In the cumulative index over the last 12 months, the IPCA-15 stood at 9.57%, above the index of the preceding 12 months (9.25%). It was the highest result over 12 months since December 2003 (9.86%). In August 2014, the IPCA-15 was at 0.14%. The complete IPCA-15 data can be accessed at here.

Transportation, with a drop of 0.46%, was one of the groups responsible for the drop in the index, down 0.08 percentage points of impact in the IPCA-15 of the month. Airfares (-25.06%), new cars (-0.41%), used cars (-1.20%), as well as ethanol (-0.77%) made the group transportation (-0.46%) get the lowest result of the month. The results of the groups of products and services surveyed are shown in the table below.

The group food and beverages, which presented a result of 0.45%, lower than the 0.64% change of the previous month, also contributed to the slowdown in the IPCA-15 rate of August. Many food products got cheaper from one month to the other, with a highlight to: potatoes (-9.51%), acai berries (-8.51%), tomatoes (-6.67%), black beans (-4.30%), black-eyed peas (-4.26%), carioca beans (-1.48%) and soybean oil (-1.14%). Other items were still up: long-life milk (3.05%), meals away from home (0.88%) and meat (0.87%).

This month, electricity stayed again ahead of the main impacts, with 0.10 p.p. and an increase of 2.60%. That resulted from the influence of the changes in the accounts of the Metropolitan Areas of: São Paulo (7.43%), with an increase of 17.00% applied over the tariffs of one of the enterprises of the group on July 04; Curitiba (5.03%), reflecting the remainder of the 14.39% increase, in force since June 24; and Bélem (0.42%), with an increase of 7.47% on August 07. As a result, the rise of electricity, coupled with other items, took the expenses with Housing (1.02%) to the highest result of the group in the month.

In this group, there was also the influence of water and sewage fees (1.39%), manpower for small repairs (0.82%), condominium maintenance fees (0.72%) and of residential rent (0.39%).

The water and sewerage fees (1.39%) were influenced by the changes in the Metropolitan Areas of Rio de Janeiro (4.33%), where there was an increase of 9.98% on August 01, of Porto Alegre (2.11%) with an increase of 7.60% in force since July 01, of Recife (0.80%) with an increase of 3.51% since June 20, of Goiânia (10.73%), with an average increase of 20.00% in force since July 01.

The items domestic worker (0.54%) and bank services (2.14%) were the highlights in the group Personal Expenses (0.73%). As to the group Education, the high of 0.78% reflected the result seen in the survey carried out in August in order to get data for the second semester of the school year. Regular courses changed 0.78%, while other courses (computer, languages, etc.) recorded a high of 1.64%.

The monthly fees of health insurance plans (1.08%) and personal hygiene articles (1.44%) exerted pressure on the group Health and Personal Care (0.83%). In Household Articles (0.73%) the items TV, sound and computers (1.92%) and furniture (0.95%) stood out.

As to the indexes by area, the highest change was in Goiana (0.84%), due to the high in gasoline (4.50%) and ethanol, whose price per liter became 15.56% more expensive. Adjusted by 20.00% on July 1st, water and sewerage fees (10.73%) also exerted pressure over the result. The lowest indexes came from Belém (0.09%) and Brasília (0.09%). In Belém, food products at home fell 0.41%. In Brasília, airfares, with a weight of 1.72% and change of -23.40%, generated an impact of -0.40 p.p. in the month's result. The following table shows the results by area surveyed.

In order to measure the IPCA-15 the prices collected from July 15 to August 13, 2015(reference) were compared with the ones in effect from June 12 to July 14, 2015 (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, and also Brasília and Goiânia. The methodology is the same as the one used for IPCA; the difference lies in the period of price collection and in the geographic coverage.