The Extended Consumer Price Index-15 (IPCA-15) changed 0.65% in October and stood 0.17 percentage points above the rate of 0.48% registered in September. As a result, the accumulated indicator in the year increased 4.49%, below the rate of the same period of 2011 (5.48%). Considering the last 12 months, the IPCA-15 was at 5.56%, above the immediately previous 12 months (5.31%). In October of 2011, the rate was at 0.42%.

The complete publication of IPCA-15 can be accessed at

www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/precos/ipca15/defaultipca15.shtm. 

With a high of 1.56% and an impact of 0.37 percentage points, food products accounted for 57% of the month’s index. There was a rise in several products: the highlights were meat (2.92%) and rice (11.91%), the greatest individual impacts in the IPCA-15, with 0.07 p.p. each.

Several other food products showed significant increases in the month, such as potato (19.23%), cassava flour (12.52%), onion (9.97%), carioca beans (4.66%), pullet (4.13%), soybean oil (3.01%), and French roll (2.43%). 

The expenses with housing also accelerated between September and October, changing from 0.43% to 0.72%. That is attributable to the rise in electricity (from -0.05% in September to 0.67% in October) coupled with the increase of important items in the household budget, as  water and sewage fees (from 0.78% to 1.32%), cleaning articles (from 0.29% to 0.55%), manpower for small repairs (from 0.07% to 1.69%) and cooking gas (from 0.30% to 1.08%).

In health and personal care (from 0.37% in September to 0.42% in October), the rate acceleration from one month to the other was caused by the high of the personal hygiene articles, which went from 0.07% in September to 0.66% in October.

Apparel (from 0.47% to 1.05%), transports (from 0.09% to 0.11%) and communication (from 0.01% to 0.18%), as well as household articles (from 0.19% to 0.26%) were the other groups of products and services surveyed that presented acceleration from one month to the other, as the following table shows:

In order to estimate IPCA-15, prices collected from September 13 to October 11 of 2012 (reference) were compared to those in force from August 14 to September 12 of 2012 (base). The indicator refers to families with monthly income of one to forty minimum wages and it encompasses the metropolitan regions 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.   

In contrast, the item domestic worker stands out, with a fall of 0.17% in October against the rise of 1.24% in September, responding for the deceleration of the group personal expenses from 0.57% to 0.15%. 

As to the group non-food products, there was a change of 0.37%, above the previous month’s result, which had been 0.30%.

As to the regional indexes, the biggest one was in Goiânia (1.21%), due to electricity (12.21%), whose fees were adjusted for 12.17% on September 12. The lowest index was in Curitiba (0.38%), where food products rose 0.64%, quite below the national average (1.56%). The following table shows the monthly results by surveyed region: