Medications are expensive.

Marli Moreira
Reporter from Agência Brasil

São Paulo - The Consumer Price Index (IPC), measured by the Economic Research Institute Foundation (Fipe) in the city of São Paulo, reached 0,31% in the first preliminary reading for May. Four of the seven groups surveyed showed increases, with the most significant rise occurring in healthcare (from 1,31% to 1,58%). Among the items with the greatest influence are medicines, which became on average 3,36% more expensive.

Increases were also observed compared to the end of April in the transportation (from 0,28% to 0,30%), personal expenses (from -0,12% to 0,33%), and clothing (from 0,19% to 0,30%) groups. The impact of these increases on the average CPI, however, was minimized by the reduction in rates in the other groups, mainly food items.

Since the end of March, the food group has shown a reduction in the intensity of increases. In this survey, the rate went from 0,20% to 0,15%. In housing, the CPI fell from 0,25% to 0,14%, and in the education group, from 0,18% to 0,10%.

Inflation hits the poorest the hardest.
Price increases have been more pronounced for those with low incomes than for other social classes.

Vitor Abdala
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro – Inflation for families with incomes up to 2,5 minimum wages, as measured by the Consumer Price Index – Class 1 (IPC-C1) of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), was 0,59% in April, a rate lower than the 0,75% of the previous month. However, the index is higher than the 0,52% recorded in April by the Brazilian Consumer Price Index (IPC-BR), which measures inflation for all income brackets.

The drop in the IPC-C1 from March to April was caused by a reduction in the rate of five of the eight expenditure categories analyzed. Food inflation, for example, fell from 1,28% to 0,98% during the period, driven mainly by the 2,08% deflation (price drop) in poultry and egg prices in April.

Another expense category with lower inflation was housing, where the price increase went from 0,76% in March to 0,34% in April. This behavior was driven by items such as residential electricity tariffs, which experienced deflation of 0,58% during the month.

Three spending categories went from inflation in March to deflation the following month: transportation (from 0,21% to -0,06%), communication (from 0,31% to -0,78%), and education, reading, and recreation (from 0,42% to -0,47%).

On the other hand, three expense categories saw an increase in their rate in April. The index for the health and personal care group rose from 0,36% in March to 1,63% in April, influenced by the increase in drug prices, which rose by 2,75% in the month.

The inflation rate for clothing rose from 0,72% to 0,83%, while the miscellaneous expenses index increased from 0,18% to 0,21%. The IPC-C1 (Consumer Price Index - Class 1) accumulates rates of 2,51% for the year and 7,16% over the last 12 months.