The National Consumer Price Index (INPC) rose 1.71% in March, above the result of February (1%). It is the biggest change for a month of March since 1994, when it was 43.08%.
The INPC accumulates an increase of 3.42% in the year and 11.73% in the last 12 months, above the 10.80% observed in the 12 immediately previous months. The data were released today (8), in Rio de Janeiro, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Food products increased from 1.25% in February to 2.39% in March. Non-food items also accelerated by 1.50%. The variation was 0.92% in the previous month.
price hike
According to the IBGE, in terms of regional indices, all areas surveyed had their prices high in March. The lowest result occurred in the metropolitan area of Belém (1.44%), due to the fall in electricity (-2.98%). The biggest change was in the metropolitan region of Curitiba (2.54%), influenced by increases of 11.55% in gasoline and 20.22% in urban buses.
To calculate the monthly index, prices collected between February 26 and March 30, 2022 (reference) were compared with prices in force between January 29 and February 25, 2022 (base).
The INPC has been calculated by the IBGE since 1979 and refers to families with a monetary income of one to five minimum wages, the head being a salaried employee, and covers ten metropolitan regions of the country, in addition to Goiânia, Campo Grande, Rio Branco, São Luís, Aracaju it’s Brasilia.