The IPCA-15 (Large National Consumer Price Index-15), considered a snapshot of official inflation, accelerated to 0.25% in December, according to data released by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) this Tuesday (23). With this result, the IPCA-15 closes the year with an increase of 4.41%.
Last month the index was 0.2% and a year ago it was 0.34%. The acceleration was lower than the market expected. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast an increase of 0.27% for the final month of the year.
According to the IBGE, of the nine groups of products and services surveyed, seven increased in December, with the transport and clothing sectors responsible for the largest variations (0.69%). The household goods group, on the other hand, recorded the fourth consecutive drop in average prices (-0.64%).
Other variations ranged from a 0.01% drop in the health and personal care group to a 0.46% increase in personal spending – the latter had seen a 0.85% increase the previous month.
In the transport sector, the main individual impact on the month’s index came from plane tickets, up 12.71%. Transportation applications, meanwhile, increased by 9.00% and fuels by 0.26%, following a decline of 0.46% in November, with increases of 1.70% for ethanol and 0.11% for gasoline. Motor gasoline and diesel fell by 0.26% and 0.38% respectively.
Urban buses, however, experienced a considerable drop (-0.69%), mainly due to the free admission granted on Sundays and public holidays in Belém and Brasilia, in addition to the fare reduction in Curitiba.
In the clothing group (0.69%), increases were recorded in children’s (1.05%), women’s (0.98%) and men’s (0.70%) clothing.
The food and beverage group, which has the greatest weight in the index, changed by 0.13%. Average home food prices fell for the seventh consecutive month, falling -0.08% in December. This result was contributed by the drop in prices of tomatoes (-14.53%), long-life milk (-5.37%) and rice (-2.37%). On the high side, meat (1.54%) and fruit (1.46%) stood out.
Food away from home, for its part, recorded a variation of 0.65% in December, with an increase in snacks (0.99%) and meals (0.62%).
CITIES
As for regional indices, ten of the eleven areas covered increased in December. The largest change was observed in Porto Alegre (0.50%), due to the increase in plane tickets (11.32%) and residential electricity (5.86%).
The lowest result was recorded in Belém (-0.35%), with declines in accommodation (-53.72%) and personal hygiene items (-1.60%). In November, the capital of Pará hosted COP30, the United Nations climate conference.
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