O Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) announced this Friday (10) that, according to the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), the prices in the country rose 0.38% in April. The “health and personal care” (1.16%) and “food and beverage” (0.70%) sectors were mainly responsible for the increase of 0.22 percentage points (pp) compared to March (0.16% ).
The index came in above economists’ expectations and reinforces the idea that the Central Bank should be more cautious when cutting interest rates. On Wednesday (8), the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) decided to reduce the rate by 0.25 percentage pointsreducing the rate of decline, which was 0.50 percentage points.
Pharmaceutical products and food each had an impact of 0.15 pp on the overall value. In comparison, the next groups with the greatest impact on April’s IPCA were “Transport” (0.14%) and “Clothing” (0.55%): 0.03 pp.
Health and personal care: the largest contribution (0.10 pp) came from pharmacies (2.84%). Highlights include antidiabetics (4.19%), anti-infectives and antibiotics (3.49%) and hypotensive and hypocholesterolemic drugs (3.34%).
Food and drinks: in the group, the main increase was that of meals cooked at home, 0.81%. An increase of 0.22 pp compared to the previous month, indicating a considerable increase in market values. “Outside the home”, on the other hand, remained close to the March variation, 0.39% (rising just 0.04 pp).
In April, seven of the nine groups of products and services surveyed by IBGE saw price increases. In the year, inflation accumulated an increase of 1.80%. In the last 12 months, accumulated inflation is 3.69%.
Transport and Fuels
After a negative change in prices in the 3rd month of the year (-0.33%), compared to February, the “transport” group (0.14%) was the one with the greatest distance between the values of the sub-items. With regard to “fuels” (up 1.74%), only vehicle gas (-0.51%) saw a price decrease. Ethanol (4.56%), gasoline (1.50%) and diesel oil (0.32%) recorded price increases.
In “tickets”, the price of air tickets fell (-12.09% and -0.08 pp). The subway received a direct impact from the 8.69% adjustment in Rio de Janeiro (5.07%), as of April 12, it rose 1.72%. The same goes for taxis (0.21%), which were affected by the average increase in Recife at the end of the month.
