Inflation calculated by the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) closed September at 0.52%. In the year, the indicator totals 3.62%. Over the last 12 months, the increase is 5.1%.
The data was released this Thursday (9) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Salaries
The INPC is widely used as an index for calculating annual salary adjustments for different categories.
The minimum wage, for example, in addition to other metrics, takes the annual INPC from November to reach the value in the following year. Unemployment insurance, benefits and the INSS ceiling are readjusted based on the December result.
Result in the month
In September, of the nine groups of products and services surveyed by IBGE, three showed deflation (price decline on average):
- Housing: 3.28%
- Clothing: 0.60%
- Personal expenses: 0.33%
- Education: 0.08%
- Health and personal care: 0.03%
- Transport: 0.02%
- Communication: -0.22%
- Food and drinks: -0.33%
- Household items: -0.45%
The drop in food and beverage prices is for the fourth month in a row.
The explanation for the rise in housing is the increase in electricity bills (10.57%), caused by return of the Itaipu Bonusa discount on the August bill that benefited 80.8 million consumers.
In addition to the end of the bonus, the electricity bill is influenced by the validity of the red tariff flag level 2, which added R$7.87 to the electricity bill for every 100 KWh consumed.
The extra charge is determined by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) to pay for thermoelectric plants in times of low hydroelectric reservoirs. The additional amount is necessary, as the energy generated by thermoelectric plants is more expensive than hydroelectric plants.
For October, Aneel determined the return of the red flag level 1, with an additional R$4.46.
INPC x IPCA
The IBGE also released this Thursday the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), known as official inflation, which stood at 0.48% in September and 5.17% in 12 months.
The difference between the two indices is that the INPC calculates inflation for families with an income of one to five minimum wages and the IPCA for households with an income of one to 40 minimum wages. Currently the minimum is R$1,518.
IBGE gives different weights to the price groups surveyed. In the INPC, for example, food represents almost 25% of the index, more than in the IPCA, around 21%, as lower-income families spend proportionally more on food. From the opposite perspective, the price of a plane ticket weighs less on the INPC than on the IPCA.
According to IBGE, the INPC calculation “aims to correct the purchasing power of salaries, through measuring price variations in the consumption basket of the lowest-income salaried population”.
Price collection is carried out in ten metropolitan regions: Belém, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Vitória, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Collection is also carried out in Brasília, Goiânia, Campo Grande (MS), Rio Branco, São Luís and Aracaju.
