(Updated on 12/22/2005 at 10:15)

From July next year, the contribution from items consumed by Brazilian families will be updated according to the Consumer Expenditure Survey - 2002/2003.

The contribution structures of indexes calculated through the System of Consumer Price Indexes - SNIPC will be updated from July 2006 on. The new measures are based on the latest edition of IBGE’s Consumer Expenditure Survey (POF), which took place from July 2002 to June 2003. The figures applied so far were obtained from the 1995-1996 edition of POF. Percent contributions are applied to the calculations of indexes in order to determine the relative importance of price changes of several goods and services consumed by families.

POF is a sample household survey whose objective is to portray Brazilians’ consuming habits. In 20002-2003 POF, the institute surveyors visited over 48 thousand dwellings all over the country. The consuming habits of families in urban and rural areas, in a period of twelve months, were investigated.

Gasoline replaces urban buses as the item with biggest contribution

Although the group of items to be investigated has remained practically the same, the contribution of some of them increased or decreased. The group urban buses is no longer the leader, having been replaced by gasoline. Alcohol lost its position. Mobile telephony became more important, causing the increase of the contribution from mobile telephones.

The table below shows items with participation of over 1% in families expenditure. In the current calculations, in effect until July 2006, there are 24 items representing over 1% of expenses, accounting for 61.8341% of the overall expenditure. In the new IPCA structure, there are 23 items in this situation, and they account for 55.6391% of the overall figure.

The use of the Internet and of cable TV, besides the purchase of PCs increased. The same happened to the expenses with hairstylists and banking services. Expenses with food products purchased to be consumed at home decreased, as well as prices of cigarettes and airplane tickets.

Education and Communication are the groups whose participation will become more relevant

There will be changes concerning major participating groups. The table below shows the changes between the current and the expected contribution from groups, considering figures from POF - 2002-2003. There have been significant increases, for example, in the groups Education and Communication, and falls in Housing and Transportation.

Contribution from areas also changed

The metropolitan areas and the municipalities covered by the price collecting for IPCA also changed, as can be seen in the table below. São Paulo had its contribution reduced but it is still the leader; Brasília, although having increased its contribution, remains as the last one in the list. Belo Horizonte surpassed Porto Alegre; Belém replaced Recife and Fortaleza surpassed Goiânia.