The January inflation preview increased by 0.55%, after the 0.52% index recorded in December. The Extended National Consumer Price Index 15 (IPCA-15), released today (24) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), shows that the biggest impacts came from the health and personal care sectors (1.10%) , food and beverages (0.55%), with 0.14 percentage points (pp) and 0.12 pp respectively.
In the last 12 months, the IPCA-15 variation was 5.87%, below the 5.90% observed in the immediately previous 12 months. In January 2022, the index stood at 0.58%.
According to the IBGE, all nine groups of products and services surveyed were discharged in January. The group health and personal care increased from December (0.40%) to January (1.10%), influenced mainly by the increase in the prices of personal hygiene items (1.88%), which in December had risen by 0.04 %. Perfume (4.24%) and skin products (3.85%) had the most expressive increases.
“Health plans (1.21%) maintained the variation of the previous month, reflecting the incorporation of the monthly fraction of the readjustments of the new and old plans for the 2022 to 2023 cycle”, says the research.
The variation of food and beverages (0.55%) was below the one registered in December (0.69%). Increases in potatoes (15.99%), tomatoes (5.96%), rice (3.36%) and fruits (1.74%) caused an increase of 0.61% in food prices for home consumption.
The most expressive falls were due to onions (-15.21%) and long-life milk (-2.04%). Food away from home (0.39%) had a result close to that of the previous month (0.45%), with snacks increasing by 0.80% and meals by 0.14%.
“In the communication group (2.36%), the result was influenced by increases in pay TV (11.78%), telephony, internet and pay TV combo (3.24%), internet access (2. 11%) and telephone equipment (1.78%). The telephony, internet and cable TV combo was the sub-item that exerted the greatest impact (0.05 pp) on the monthly index”, says the IBGE.
In transport, there was a deceleration from December (0.85%) to January (0.17%). The main reason was the drop in fuel prices (-0.58%). With the exception of the increase in ethanol (0.51%), there was a decrease in the prices of diesel oil (-3.08%), gasoline (-0.59%) and vehicle gas (-0.40%).
In the housing group (0.17%), there was a drop in the prices of bottled gas (-1.32%) and residential electricity (-0.16%). There was an increase in piped gas prices (7.09%), as a result of the readjustments of 9% in tariffs in Rio de Janeiro (3.64%), in force since January 1st, and of 10.90% in São Paulo (10 .90%), as of December 10.
In relation to the regional indices, all areas surveyed rose in January. The greatest variation was registered in Belo Horizonte (0.92%), influenced by increases in personal hygiene items (2.65%), water and sewage rates (5.85%) and potatoes (23. 18%). The lowest result, in turn, occurred in Rio de Janeiro (0.23%), where falls of 4.82% for electricity and 20.18% for onions weighed.
