The Extended National Consumer Price Index-15 (IPCA) changed 0.68% in February and stood below the 0.88% rate registered in January.  The change was at 1.57% for the first two months of the year. In the cumulative index over the last 12 months, IPCA-15 stood at 6.18%, above the 6.02% index of the preceding 12 months. In February 2012, the rate was at 0.53%.

The complete publication is available at www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/precos/ipca15/defaultipca15.shtm.

Electric energy was the highlight in this month as it became 13.45% cheaper, reflecting part of the reduction of 18% in the energy fares in force since January 24. As a result, the item electric energy, which weights 3.32% in the index, exerted the largest downward pressure on the IPCA-15 in February, by changing -0.45 percentage points.

Even with the significant increase of residential rent (2.26%) and of condominium maintenance fees (1.33%), the expenses with housing decreased 2.17% in February, becoming the group with the lowest figures in this month according to the following table.

As to the highs, the education group was the highlight by changing 5.49%, recording the highest change and contributing with 0.24 percentage points to the index. These figures reflect the price adjustments in the beginning of the school year, particularly those of regular courses, which rose 6.92% and became the highest individual influence in this month, by changing 0.19 percentage points. With the exception of Fortaleza, which will adjust the prices in a future date, the remaining regions recorded positive changes, such as 4.27% in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre and 9.28% in Belo Horizonte. The monthly tuition of miscellaneous courses (foreign languages, computes sciences, etc.) changed 5.62%.

However, food and beverages exerted the highest impact on the index among the groups, by changing 0.42 percentage points due to the rise of 1.74%. Under the influence of climate, among other factors, some crops were affected and decreased the production, leading to a high rise in the prices. It was the case of tomato (31.90%), cassava flour (19.04%), onion (15.92%), carrot (15.36%), green vegetables (11.45%) and potato (11.00%).

Among non-food items, which changed 0.35% in February, the highlights were gasoline and cigarettes. As a result of the adjustment of 6.60% in the price of the distributing companies, the item gasoline changed 1.96% in this month, reflecting part of the increase to the consumers. The item cigarettes rose 5.70% due to the increase in the tax on industrialized goods - IPI over the prices to the consumers.

Furthermore, other items also registered significant increases in the IPCA-15 this month, such as toiletries (1.71%), household appliances (1.58%), domestic personnel (1.12%) and new cars (0.90%).

As to the regional indexes, the highest change was in Recife (1.09%), due to the rise of 2.87% in the prices of food products. The lowest index was in Rio de Janeiro (0.26%).

In order to estimate IPCA-15, prices were collected from January 16 to February 14 and compared with those in effect from December 12 to January 15. 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.