The  National Extended Consumer Price Index -15 (IPCA-15)  changed by 0.49% in March, below the 0.68% rate in February.  On the ohter hand, IPCA-E (cumulative IPCA-15 in January, February and March) was at 2.06%, quite above the result of the same period of 2012 (1.44%). Considering the last 12 months, the index was at 6.43%, also above the 12 preceding months (6.18%). In May of 2012, the rate was at 0.25%. The complete IPCA-15 data can be accessed at www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/precos/ipca15/defaultipca15.shtm.

The complete IPCA-E data can be accessed at www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/precos/ipcae/default.shtm.

The strong reduction of the effects of the high seasonal rates of the group education (from 5.49% February to 0.50% in March) made the IPCA-15 rate decrease from 0.68% to 0.49% from one month to the other.

The group  personal expenses (from 1.15% in February to 0.51% in March) also lost strength. That is attributable to the price changes in  cigarettes, which moved from 5.70% in February to 0.03% in March. The item  domestic worker  remained up, with 1.53%.

The other four groups of products and services (food and beverages, household articles, transportation and health and personal care) also caused a deceleration in the price growth rate.

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

Both food (from 1.74% in February to 1.40% in March) and non-food products (from 0.35% to 0.20%) recorded lower results than the ones registered in the preceding month.

The group  food and beverages, which continues marking the significant 1.40% rise (even though decelerating),  recorded 0.34 percentage points of the index, being responsible for 69% of it.  Several important products of household expenditure became more expensive, as carioca beans (11.68%), eggs (7.66%), wheat flour (6.33%), cassava flour (5.72%), fruits (2.54%), noodles (2.42%), pullet (1.80%), and French roll (1.77%), as well as meals out (1.23%).

But the main individual impact in the index this month came from  transportation. Gasoline, whose price rose 2.34%, exerted a 0.09 percentage points impact. After the 1.96% change in February, it accounted for a 4.35% increase for the consumer in the last two months, a consequence of the distributors' adjustment in the price per liter (6.60%), in force since January 30. In March, the liter of  ethanol, with a change of 3.89%, also became more expensive; the same happened to  diesel fuel, rising 3.16%. Even so, the group transportation (from 0.46% to 0.32%) shrank from February to March, influenced by airfares, whose drop reached 16.41%.

Household articles (from 0.82% in February to 0.40% in March) and  health and personal care (from 0.78% to 0.42%) also presented reduction in the growth rate from one month to the other.

Conversely, housing (from -2.17% in February to  -0.70% in March) posted a slighter fall from February to March. That is due to the  electricity bill, which got 5.32% cheaper in March. In February, the drop achieved 13.45%, which means the bills were 18.05% cheaper in the two preceding months as a result of the 18% reduction in force since January 24.

The groups  apparel  (from 0.01% in February to 0.48% in March) and  communication (from 0.08% to 0.27%) also posted results above those of March.

Among the regional indexes, the highest was registered in Fortaleza (0.87%), due to the rise of 2.18 % in the prices of food products, whereas the lowest index occurred in Rio de Janeiro (0.25%).