Inflation advanced in September for all income groups, compared to August. There was a generalized increase for all Brazilian families, but the increase in prices was more significant for those with lower incomes. The information is contained in the Ipea Inflation Indicator by Income Range, released this Tuesday (15) by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea).
For households with very low income, the inflation rate increased from -0.19% in August to 0.58% in September. Among higher-income families, the index increased from 0.13% to 0.33% in the period.
Including September data, the low-income segment is the one that records the highest inflationary increase in the year (3.43%), while the high-income segment has the lowest rate (2.92%).
Over the past 12 months, low-middle income families have the lowest inflation rate (4.28%). The high-income group records the highest rate (4.72%).
The food and beverage and housing groups were the main points of inflation decompression for practically all income strata. While lower-income families were impacted by increases in food at home and electricity tariffs, high-income families, even in the face of pressure from air ticket adjustments, had a slightly less intense inflationary acceleration in the period, bearing in mind that the contribution coming from increases in food and energy was proportionally lower than that observed in the first income brackets.
Climate
The adverse effects of the weather, especially on the prices of meat (3%) and fruit (2.8%), largely define the positive contribution to inflation in September. At the same time, as a consequence of the severe drought on reservoir levels, the adoption of the red flag in September generated a 5.4% increase in electricity tariffs, explaining the pressure exerted by the housing group. In the case of high-income families, inflation was still impacted by the 4.6% increase in air ticket prices.
Despite the generalized increase, inflation in September was mitigated for all social classes due to the improvement in the behavior of the personal expenses group. This was a reflection of the decline in leisure and recreation services, especially with the 8% deflation of cinema, theater and concert tickets.
Compared to September 2023, there was an acceleration in inflation for the first four income classes, especially for the lower income segments. The first two bands recorded in September of the previous year, respectively, -0.02% and 0.08%; Last month, they showed respective increases of 0.58% and 0.55%. On the other hand, the upper middle and upper income classes showed lower inflation in 2024, compared to that recorded in the previous year.
The acceleration of inflation in September compared to that recorded in the same period last year for lower income classes is largely explained by the worsening performance of the food and housing groups, even in the face of the smaller impact from fuel. In the case of food, deflations were seen in fruits (-0.38%), meat (-2.1%), milk and dairy products (-2.2%) and oils and fats (-0.07% ), in 2023, gave way to the respective increases of 2.8%, 3.0%, 1% and 2.2%, in 2024. In relation to the housing group, the 5.4% readjustment in the price of energy electricity, in 2024, was well above that seen in 2023 (0.99%).
Inflationary relief in 2024 for the upper middle and upper income brackets came mainly from fuels, airline tickets and recreation and leisure services, whose respective variations of -0.02%, 4.6% and -1. 4%, in September this year, contrasts with the increases of 2.7%, 13.5% and 0.51% observed in this same month of the previous year.
