The Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) of February changed 0.69% and stood above the 0.55% rate registered in January by 0.14 percentage points.  In the first two months of the year, the change was at 1.24%, below the 1.47% rate of the same period in 2013. Considering the last 12 months, the index stood at 5,68%, above the 5,59% rate relative to the prior 12 month-period. In February 2013, the rate was at 0.60%.

The complete publication of the survey can be accessed at

www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/precos/inpc_ipca/defaultinpc.shtm.

Out of the nine groups of products and services surveyed, five showed higher results than the ones seen in the previous month:

This month's IPCA focused on the increase in the tuition fees of schools; as a result, the group Education, whose high reached 5.97%, was responsible for 0.27 percentage points of the index. This result reflects the price reset in the beginning of the school year, especially in the tuition fees of the regular courses, which rose 7.64% and became the item of highest individual impact in the month, with 0.22 percentage points. Except for Fortaleza (which did not register increase due to the different reset date), in the other areas, courses stood between the 3.45% recorded in the Metropolitan Area of Porto Alegre and the 11.72% rate of Rio de Janeiro. In the tuition fees of other courses (languages, computer science etc.) the change was 5.95%.

Household Articles, which moved to 1.07% against 0.49% in January, stood out. Most of the items in the group were above 1.00%, namely: furniture (1.20%), bed, bath and table (1.33%), household appliances (1.78%) and household equipment repair (1.37%).

In Housing, moving from 0.55% in January to 0.77% in February, the main pressures were exerted by renting (1.20%) and condominium fees (0.80%), as well as manpower for small repairs (0.99%) and electricity (0,63%). In the case of electricity, bills were higher in some areas, especially in Rio de Janeiro (3.55%) and Vitória (2.63%), as a consequence of the increase in the share of PIS/PASEP/COFINS.

The groups Health and Personal Care (0.48% in January to 0.74% in February) and Communication (0.03% to 0.08%) also posted results above the previous month's.

The four other groups recorded pace reduction in the growth of prices in relation to January. Wearing apparel (-0.15% to -0.40%) and Transportation (-0.03% to -0.05%) fell, apparel articles were a highlight - at that time they were in the sale period. In Transportation, the item airfares posted decrease of 20.55% and stood out as the most significant individual impact down, with -0.12 percentage points. Interstate bus fares also dropped, -0.83%. On the other hand, there was increase in the item urban bus, whose fares changed 1.29%, exclusively because of the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro (6.18%), where fares rose 9.00%, on average, starting on January 08. Intercity bus fares also rose, by 0.53%, due to the changes occurred in Vitória (4.25%), Porto Alegre (4.56%) and Goiânia (1.67%). As to fuels, whereas the prices of ethanol were up 1.87%, gasoline remained virtually stable at 0.04%.

In Personal Expenses, despite the high of 1.40% in the item domestic workers, the group's change stood at 0.69%, quite below the 1.72% rate in the previous month. That is due to the fact that the price increase in cigarettes had already been absorbed in the total figure and that the change slowed down to -0.06% in February against a high of 7.79% in January.

Likewise, Food and Beverages posted deceleration moving from 0.84% to 0.56% from a month to the other. That is a consequence of the prices of food at home, which increased much less than before. It changed 0.22% against 0.90% in the previous month. Some items, such as long-life milk, whose prices fell 3.65%, are cheaper, as one can see in the table below:

However some items were much more expensive, mainly those whose crops were hit by weather problems, like droughts and heavy rainfalls.  The most relevant ones were:

Food away from home was also more expensive than in January. The high was at 1.21%, with substantial increases in: meals (1.20%), snacks (1.35%), breakfast (2.14%), soft drinks (0.87%), coffee (2.01%) and beer (1.23%).

Among the indices by area, the highest one was registered in the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro (1.07%) where housing rent presented increase of 2.77%, domestic worker, 2.85% and electricity, 3.55%. The rise of electricity was due to the increase in the tax rates of PIS/PASEP/COFINS. Urban (6.18%) and intercity buses (1.16%) also influenced the result in the area, reflecting the reset of 9.00% in urban bus fares in force on February 8 and 5.77% in intercity bus fares, granted on January 13. The lowest index occurred in Brasília (-0.12%) due to the 28.38% drop in the prices of airfares, whose 2.57% weight caused an impact of -0.73 percentage points. The following table shows the monthly results by area surveyed:

IPCA has been calculated by IBGE since 1980. It refers to families with monthly income of one to 40 minimum wages, whatever the source, and it encompasses nine metropolitan areas in the country, besides the municipalities of Goiânia and Brasília. In order to estimate the index of the month, the prices collected from January 30 to February 26 of 2014 (reference) were compared with those in force from December 31 of 2013 to January 29 of 2014 (base).

In February, INPC changed 0.64%

The National Consumer Price Index (INPC) posted a change of 0.64% in February and stood close to January's rate (0.63%). In the first two months of the year, the change was at 1.27%, below the 1.44% rate of the same period in 2013. Over the last 12 months, the index stood at 5.38%, above the 5.26% rate of the preceding 12 month-period. In February 2013, INPC was at 0.52%.

Food products increased 0.39% in February, whereas non-food products stood at 0.75%. In January, the results were 0.86% and 0.53%, respectively.

Among the indices by area, the highest one was registered in the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro (1.31%) where housing rent presented increase of 2.77% and electricity of 3.68%.  The rise of electricity was due to the increase in the tax rates of PIS/PASEP/COFINS. Urban (6.18%) and intercity buses (1.16%) also influenced the result in the area, reflecting the reset of 9.00% in urban bus fares in force on February 8 and 5.77% in intercity bus fares, granted on January 13. The lowest index occurred in Brasília (-0.17%) due to the 28.38% drop in the prices of airfares, whose 0.66% weight caused an impact of -0.19 percentage points. Besides, there was the 1.31% drop in electricity bills due to the reduction in the tax rates of PIS/PASEP/COFINS.

INPC has been calculated by IBGE since 1979. It refers to families with monthly income of one to six minimum wages, with a salaried head of the family, and it encompasses nine metropolitan areas in the country, besides the municipalities of Goiânia and Brasília. In order to estimate the index of the month, the prices collected from January 30 to February 26 of 2014 (reference) were compared with those in force from December 31 of 2013 to January 29 of 2014 (base).