The Extended National Consumer Price Index -15 (IPCA-15) changed 0.48% in October and stood 0,09 percentage points above the September's rate (0,39%). As a result, The result for the year moved to 5,23%, above the rate of 4,46% in the same period of 2013. In the last 12 months, IPCA-15 stayed at 6,62%, the same change of the 12 previous months (6,62%), since IPCA-15 of October 2013 was also at 0,48%. The complete data of IPCA-15 can be accessed on page
www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/precos/ipca15/defaultipca15.shtm.

As shown in the following table, five of the nine groups of products and services surveyed recorded acceleration in the rate from September to October, whereas the other four decelerated.

Food and Beverages (0,28% in September to 0,69% in October), with an impact of 0,17 percentage points, coupled with Housing (0,72% to 0,80%), with 0,12 p.p., accounted for 0,29 p.p. and were responsible fro 60,42% of the IPCA-15 this month.

In October, food prices kept increasing and reached 0,69%,, after registering 0,28% in September. The high was influenced by meat, which stayed 2,38% more expensive and had the sharpest individual impact in the month, with 0,06 p.p. Besides meat, other items presented significant increases in their prices, such as beer (3,52%), chicken (1,75%) and rice (1,35%).

In the group Housing, the highlights wereelectricity bills,  with a high of 1,28%, and bottled gas, with 2,52%.  In electricity, the greatest result come from Goiânia (15,54%), where bills were repriced at 19,00% on September 12. In Brasília (5,99%), the price increase was of 18,88% in force since August 26. In the other areas, the changes in this item were caused by changes in PIS/PASEP/COFINS.

Besides the group Food and Beverages (0,28% to 0,69%) and the groupHousing (0,72% to 0,80%), Wearing apparel (0,17% to 0,70%), Health and Personal Care (0,30% to 0,37%) and Personal Expenses (0,31% to 0,40%) also recorded acceleration in the growth rates from September to October.

 In Personal expenses (0,31% to 0,40%), the item  domestic workers, with 0,73%, stands out, since the information about earnings of the Monthly Employment Survey - PME of the Metropolitan Areas of Porto Alegre and Salvador were not available for the calculations of the in the months of July, August and September, which demanded a methodology adaptation.

In October, with the figures actually collected by PME in these two areas, the rates of the previous months were exceptionally recalculated through the regular methodology. In order to obtain the monthly result, the starting point was the cumulative index of the item in the period from July to October (earnings of May and August), which resulted in 3,79% in Porto Alegre and -1,91% em Salvador. After that, the change registered in the indexes of July to September was taken from the cumulative result of July to October, 2,52% in Porto Alegre and 2,34% in Salvador. Thus, October's result was obtained:1,25% in Porto Alegre and -4,15 in Salvador.

The same procedure was applied to the item manpower for small repairs, of the group Housing.  The cumulative result of the last four months was 2,38% in Porto Alegre and 2,25% in Salvador. When the cumulative change of July, August and September is taken out, ( 2,23% in Porto Alegre and 1,57% in Salvador), October's result stayed at 0,14% and 0,66%, respectively.

As to the groups Household Articles (0,43% to 0,13%), Transportation (0,45% to 0,25%), Education (0,20% to 0,08%) and Communication (0,56% to zero), the changes were below those of the previous month. The highlight, in Trans portion, is airfares, which shrank to 1,40% in October, whereas in September they registered a high of 17,58%.

Among the indexes by area, the highest one was seen in Brasília (0,73%), because of the rise in electricity (5,99%), due to the price reset of 18,88% in force since August 26. The lowest index occurred in Belém (-0,04%), where food at home (-0,01%) recorded a small decrease. Besides, in Belém, there was a decrease of 2,05% in theelectricity bills, due to the reduction in the shares of PIS/PASEP/COFINS.

In order to estimate IPCA-15, the prices collected from September 13 to October 13 (reference) were compared with the ones in force from August 14 to September 12 (base).  The indicator refers to families with monthly income of 1 to 40 minimum wages and it encompasses the Metropolitan Areas 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 and in the geographic coverage.