The Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA-15) changed 0.16% in August, being above July's IPCA-15, whose rate was 0.07%. As a consequence, the cumulative index of the year was 3.69%, above the 3.32% rate registered in the same period of 2012. Taking into consideration the last 12 months, the index was 6.15%, being below the 6.40% recorded in the prior 12-month period. In August 2012, the rate was at 0.39%.

The growth of the IPCA 15 of August is explained, mostly, by the smaller decrease of Food Products and Beverages (from -0.18% in July to -0.09% in August) and Means of Transportation (from -0.55% to -0.30%), coupled with the increase of Health and Personal Care (from 0.20% to 0.45%) and Education (from 0.11% to 0.68%). See below the table with the results of the groups of products and services surveyed.

In the group food products, the highlight was long life milk (5.46%), which led the ranking of main individual impacts in the month, with 0.06 percentage points. Other items also stood out with high results, such as: black beans (5.35%), beer consumed at home (3.33%), beer away from home (1.17%), snacks (of 0.96%) and meals (0.36%). However, several food products kept presenting decreasing results, with a highlight to tomatoes (-22.96%), onions (–20.09%), black beans (–6.03%), potatoes (-4.81%) and fruits (-1.99%).

Urban bus fares (from -1.02% in July to -1.69% in August), intercity bus fares (from -0.91% to -0.70%), train fares (from -1.15% to -1.96%) and subway  fares (from -2.02% to -2.24%) continued to reflect the exemptions begun in June. However, gasoline, moving from 0.69% to 0.03%, and ethanol, from -3.71% to -0.22%, made the Means of Transportation group (from -0.55% to -0.30%) present a smaller drop from a month to the other.

Education, which changed from 0.11% to 0.68%, reflected the results obtained from the data collection of August, carried out in order to portray the second semester of the school year. Regular courses changed by 0.56%, whereas other courses (computing, languages, etc.) recorded a high of 1.71%.

As to Health and Personal Care (from 0.20% in July to 0.45% in August), the high occurred because the of the results from medical and dental care (1.12%) and from personal hygiene products (0.42%). The prices of medicines, though, kept decreasing (-0.21%).

Households articles (from -0.06% in July to 0.62% in August), also posted a higher rate from a month to another, mainly due to house appliances (from -0.30% to 1.00%), TV, sound and computer equipment (from -0.54% to 0.77%) and furniture (from -0.22% to 0.46%).

Housing (from 0.60% in July to 0.56% in August) had lower results than previous month due to the growth deceleration on water and sewage fees (from 0.94% to 0.16%) and residential rent (from 0.83% to 0.74%).

In Personal Expenses, whose change also fell from 1.08% in July to 0.51% in August, the highlight was the item domestic worker, which changed from 1.45% to 0.53%. Hairdresser (from 1.24% to 0.62%) and manicurist (from 0.53% to 0.37%) were other services accounting for the fall in this group.

Among the areas, the higher index was in Curitiba (0.51%) due to electricity (4.52%), which reflected the adjustment of 8.64% in its fares in force since July 9. Gasoline (4.82%) and ethanol (2.04%) also affected the rate in the area. The smallest index was in Salvador (-0.17%), where food products had a decrease of 1.23%. See the table of results by area surveyed below:

In order to measure the IPCA-15 the prices were collected from July 13 to August 13 and compared with the ones in effect from June 14 to July 12. 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 that of IPCA. The difference lies in the period of price collection.