Of the nine groups of products and services surveyed by IBGE, five recorded an increase in March, with emphasis on food and beverages, which rose 0.91%. This represented an impact of 0.19 percentage points, that is, practically half of the March inflation forecast.
By Editorial, with ABr – from Rio de Janeiro
The Broad National Consumer Price Index 15 (IPCA-15), known as a preview of official inflation, lost strength in March and stood at 0.36%. This represents less than half of what was recorded in February (0.78%). Food and gasoline prices were the ones that put the most pressure on the index. The data was released this Tuesday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The result is also below March 2023, when it totaled 0.69%. In 12 months, the IPCA-15 accumulated 4.14%, below the 4.49% observed in the immediately previous 12 months.
Of the nine groups of products and services surveyed by IBGE, five recorded an increase in March, with emphasis on food and beverages, which rose 0.91%. This represented an impact of 0.19 percentage points, that is, practically half of the March inflation forecast.
Potato
Within this group, food at home rose 1.04% in March. Contributing to the increases were onions (16.64%), chicken eggs (6.24%), fruits (5.81%) and long-life milk (3.66%). Other items fell, such as potatoes (-9.87%), carrots (-6.10%) and soybean oil (-3.19%).
Eating away from home accelerated 0.59% in relation to February (0.48%), due to the more intense increase in meals (from 0.35% in February to 0.76% in March).
The transport group increased by 0.43%, mainly influenced by the 2.39% increase in the price of gasoline. As the product with the greatest weight in Brazilians’ consumption basket, gasoline also ended up representing the biggest individual impact on the March inflation preview, accounting for 0.12 percentage points of the index.
Housing
In relation to other fuels, there was an increase in the price of ethanol (4.27%), while vehicle gas (-2.07%) and diesel oil (-0.15%) recorded a drop.
The item that contributed most individually to holding down inflation were airline tickets, which fell 9.08% in March.
The other groups with increases were housing (0.19%), health and personal care (0.61%) and education (0.14%). At the other end, household items (-0.58%), clothing (-0.22%), personal expenses (-0.07%) and communication (0.04%) fell.
National average
The IBGE price survey is carried out in 11 locations: metropolitan regions of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, São Paulo, Belém, Fortaleza, Salvador and Curitiba; in addition to Brasília and the municipality of Goiânia.
Of these, the biggest increase was in Belém, with almost double the national average, 0.74%. According to IBGE, the factors that put the most pressure on people from Pará were gasoline (1.96%) and açaí, which rose 18.87%.
The closed official inflation result for March (IPCA) will be released on April 10th.
