The Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), which calculates the country’s official inflation, rose 0.84% in February. With the result, the indicator accumulated a rise of 1.37% in the year and 5.60% in the last 12 months, a lower percentage than the 5.77% verified in the immediately previous period. In February 2022, the variation was 1.01%. The data were released this Friday (10) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The biggest impact on the February index was caused by the Education group, which weighed 0.35 percentage points, presenting the highest change (6.28%). “It is the highest rate since February 2004, when it had a variation of 6.7%”, informed the IBGE.
In the sequence were Health and Personal Care, with a rise of 1.26%, and Housing which increased by 0.82%, in relation to January, influencing the result with 0.16 and 0.13 percentage points, respectively. On the contrary, Transport (0.37%) and Food and beverages (0.16%), even with the increases, retreated in comparison to the previous month. “The other groups were between 0.11% of Home Articles and 0.98% of Communication”, completed the IBGE.
Education
For the research manager, Pedro Kislanov, the advance of Education in February was already expected, because the readjustments applied by educational establishments at the turn of the year are accounted for this month. “Normally, this increase in education is indexed to the IPCA itself, that is, the readjustment of tuition fees is based on the inflation of the previous year”, he said, according to the publication.
Among the readjustments that most impacted the Education group are regular courses, which increased by 7.58%, driven by increases in secondary education (10.28%), elementary education (10.06%), pre-school (9. 58%) and daycare (7.20%). The biggest individual impact on the IPCA in February was that of the sub-item Elementary Education, with 0.15 percentage points. Also noteworthy were advances in higher education (5.22%), technical courses (4.11%) and postgraduate courses (3.44%).
Health
In Health and Personal Care, the 2.80% rise in the prices of personal hygiene items was what contributed to the 1.26% change in the group. After falling 5.86% in January, perfumes rose 7.50% and weighed 0.08 percentage points in the month’s index. The prices of skin products increased by 4.54%, with an impact of 0.02 percentage points on the February IPCA. “There was also the result of the health plan (1.20%), which continues to incorporate the monthly fractions of the new and old plans referring to the 2022-2023 cycle”, revealed the IBGE.
housing and clothing
In the Housing group, which rose 0.82%, the greatest pressure (0.05 percentage points) came from residential electricity (1.37%). “The variations in areas ranged from -2.04% in Rio Branco, where there was a reduction in PIS/Cofins, to 6.98% in Belo Horizonte, where tariffs for the use of transmission systems (TUST) and distribution (TUSD) were re-included in the ICMS calculation base, as was also the case in other areas, such as Curitiba (5.94%) and Vitória (4.98%)”, reported the IBGE, adding that the return of this additional charge was due to recent decision of the Federal Supreme Court.
The Clothing group was the only one among the nine groups of products and services surveyed, which had a negative change (-0.24%). In addition, the decreases in men’s clothing (-0.58%) and women’s (-0.45%) reinforced the result. “This group had been showing successive increases for a long time. It is natural, therefore, that prices start to drop”, observed the research manager.
Transport and Food
The increase of 1.16% in gasoline was the main contribution for the Transport group (0.37%), with a weight of (0.05 percentage points). Fuel was the only one that registered an increase in February. The decreases in Ethanol (-1.03%), in vehicle gas (-2.41%) and in diesel oil (-3.25%) were greater than 1%. With the 9.38% drop in prices, airline tickets contributed to the deceleration of the group in relation to the month of January (0.55%).
The retraction of food at home, which went from 0.60% in January to 0.04% in February, influenced the result of the Food and Beverages group, which also had a more intense fall in meat prices (-1.22% ) and decreases in the prices of potatoes (-11.57%) and tomatoes (-9.81%). In the previous month, they had hikes of 14.14% and 3.89%, respectively. “In the opposite direction, the highlight was long-life milk (4.62%), whose prices rose again after six consecutive months of falls”, pointed out the IBGE.
Regions
The February IPCA also showed that there was an increase in all areas in the regional indices. Increases in regular courses (5.97%), gasoline (3.37%) and residential electricity (5.94%) were the reason for Curitiba to have the highest change in the month (1.09%). The lowest was with Rio Branco (0.44%). There, residential electricity registered a decrease of 2.04%.
Index
The IPCA is calculated based on families with incomes of 1 to 40 minimum wages, residing in the metropolitan areas of Belém, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Vitória, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, in addition to Federal District and the municipalities of Goiânia, Campo Grande, Rio Branco, São Luís and Aracaju. The collection for calculating the indicator is carried out in commercial and service provision establishments, public service and internet concessionaires and extends, in general, from the 1st to the 30th of the reference month.
