With change of 0.11% in March, the Extended Consumer Price Index-15 (IPCA-15) was significantly below the February result (0.63%). In the last twelve months, the accumulated rate of 5.65% is lower than the 5.77% relative to the immediately previous 12 months. Considering the March rate, IPCA-E (Special Extended Consumer Price Index, that is, IPCA-15 accumulated in certain periods) changed by 1.14% in the first quarter of the year, being below the result of the same quarter in 2008 (1.58%).

The significant decrease in IPCA-15 from February (0.63%) to March (0.11%) resulted from the contribution of education (-0.43%) and food products and beverages (0.21%).

In February, the rise of education had reached 4.95% and the group had accounted for 54% of the monthly index, reflecting the typical occurrence of readjustments in the beginning of the school year. In March, the result was -0.43%, causing decline to the rate of non-food products, from 0.69% in February to 0.08% in the following month.

In terms of food products, the rate changed from 0.44% in February to 0.21% in March, with fall of the prices of several important items for family consumption from one month to the other: black beans (from 5.52% to -7.78%), “carioca beans”(from 2.14% to -10.17%), meats (from -0.80 % to -3.01%) and tomatoes (from -6.74% to -8.67%), for example. Some items, however, have remained on an upward trend: crystallized sugar (from 8.20% to 17.00%), refined sugar (from 1.96% to 10.72%), fruits (from 0.64% to 3.03%), green vegetables (from 5.22% to 9.69%), meals taken out of the home (from 0.99% to 0.66%) and eggs (from -1.95% to 3.66%).

Among the indexes by area, the highest one was registered in Recife (0.56%), mainly due to the participation of food products and beverages,  which changed by 0.94%. The lowest index was that of Rio de Janeiro, with deflation of up to 0.23%, considering the fall of 0.97% of food products.

For the calculation of IPCA-15, prices collected between February 12 and March 13 were compared to those collected between January 15 and February 11. The indicator refers to families with income ranging from 1 to 40 minimum wages and encompasses the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, São Paulo, Belém, Fortaleza, Salvador and Curitiba, besides Brasília and Goiânia. The methodology used is the same as of IPCA; the difference lies in the period of data collection.