Products from the “Food and beverages” group were the main villains of the IPCA-15, considered the preview of the country’s official inflation, released this Tuesday (26/3) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). They registered an increase of 0.91%. Among the items that make up this core, the biggest highlight was onions, which rose 16.64%.
Food at home rose 1.04% in March. In addition to onions, increases in chicken eggs (6.24%), fruits (5.81%) and long-life milk (3.66%) contributed to this result. Other items fell, such as potatoes (-9.87%), carrots (-6.10%) and soybean oil (-3.19%).
Eating away from home (0.59%) accelerated in relation to the month of February (0.48%), as a result of the more intense increase in meals (0.35% in February to 0.76% in March). Snacks (0.19%) registered a lower change than that recorded in the previous month (0.79%).
In the “Transport” group, which increased 0.43%, there was a drop in airfare (-9.08%), which recorded the biggest negative impact (-0.07p.p.) in the month. On the other hand, gasoline (2.39%) had the biggest positive impact (0.12 pp). In relation to other fuels (2.41%), there was an increase in the prices of ethanol (4.27%), while vehicle gas (-2.07%) and diesel oil (-0.15%) recorded a drop. The taxi sub-item increased by 0.61% due to the adjustment of 8.31% in Belo Horizonte (6.04%), as of February 8th.
Still in “Transport”, the variation in intercity buses (0.71%) was influenced by adjustments in Rio de Janeiro (6.69%), as of February 24; and in Curitiba (6.41%), as of February 5th. In the train subitem (-1.00%), there was a 4.05% reduction in fares in Rio de Janeiro (-2.20%), as of February 2nd.
Health insurance
In “Health and personal care”, whose prices rose 0.61%, the result was influenced by the health plan (0.77%), pharmaceutical products (0.73%) and personal hygiene items (0.39 %).
In the “Housing” group (+0.19%), in the result of piped gas (-0.35%), the following tariff adjustments were incorporated from February 1st: in Rio de Janeiro (-0.65%) , average reduction of 1.30%; and in Curitiba (-1.20%), a reduction of 2.29%.
Understand IPCA-15
To calculate the IPCA-15, the methodology used is the same as the IPCA, which measures official inflation in Brazil. The difference between the two indicators lies in the price collection period and geographic coverage. Prices were observed in the period from February 16th to March 14th, 2024 (reference) and compared with those in force from January 15th, 2023 to February 15th, 2024 (base).
