The General Price Index – Internal Availability (IGP-DI) rose 0.04%, a little less than the registered in January, of 0.06%. In the year, the indicator accumulates highs of 0.09% and 1.53% in 12 months. In the same month last year, it advanced 1.50% and accumulated an increase of 15.35% in 12 months. The data were disclosed this Tuesday (7) by the Brazilian Institute of Economics of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (Ibre/FGV).
IPA
The Broad Producer Price Index (IPA) dropped by 0.04% in February, while in the previous month the drop was 0.19%. According to Ibre, in the evaluation by stages of processing, the rate of the Final Goods group went from a fall of 0.04% in January to a high of 0.21% in February. The item of fuel for consumption, which, from a retreat of 2.31% in January, reached an increase of 3.84% in February, was the main influence on the acceleration of the rate. The Finished Goods index, which results from the exclusion of fresh food and fuel for consumption, moved from an advance of 0.15% in January to a retraction of 0.49% in February.
According to Ibre, the rate for the Intermediate Goods group dropped from 1.19% in January to a drop of 0.70% in February. “The main factor responsible for the less intense fall was the subgroup fuels and lubricants for production, whose rate went from minus 3.98% to minus 3.54%,” he said, adding that the Intermediate Goods index, calculated after excluding fuels and lubricants for production, had a sharper fall in February, of 0.12% in comparison with the previous year, when it registered a reduction of 0.60%.
After advancing 0.79% in January, the Crude Commodities stage was up 0.44% in February. The result was favored by the performance of iron ore items, which increased from 7.05% to 2.63%; soybeans with a drop of 1.53% to a drop of 3.06%, and cattle, a drop of 1.08% to minus 2.37%. In the opposite movement, coffee beans (0.92% to 10.07%), fresh milk (0.03% to 3.07%) and sugar cane (-0.70% to 0.72%) remained.
CPI
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) after growing 0.80% in January changed 0.34% in February. According to Ibre, four of the eight expense classes that make up this indicator showed a reduction in their variation rates, such as Education, Reading and Recreation (from 3.28% to -0.80%), Food (from 0.48% to -0.03%), Transport (from 0.92% to 0.43%) and Communication (from 0.73% to 0.67%). “In these expense classes, it is worth mentioning the behavior of the following items: formal courses (7.45% to 0.00%), vegetables (-0.27% to -7.09%), gasoline (1.12% to -0.26%) and telephone combo , internet and pay TV (1.66% to 0.96%)”, noted Ibre in a text published on the FGV website.
In different performances, the groups Housing (0.26% to 0.60%), Health and Personal Care (0.42% to 0.84%), Apparel (-0.08% to 0.36%) and Miscellaneous Expenses (0.97% to 1.01%) registered an increase in their fees. “These expense classes were influenced by the following items: residential rent (-1.08% to 2.71%), toiletries and personal care (-0.17% to 1.35%), clothing (-0.20% to 0.49%) and banking services ( 1.26% to 1.49%)”, points out the research.
Core
The core CPI rose to 0.36% in February, while in January it was 0.28%. Of the 85 items comprising the IPC, 23 were excluded from the core calculation. Among them, 10 had rates below minus 0.34% and 13 recorded variations above 0.80%. Ibre also informed that the diffusion index, which measures the proportion of items with a positive rate of change, reached 60%, which represents 9.68 percentage points below the registered in January. That month it had reached 69,68%.
INCC
The National Construction Cost Index (INCC) rose by 0.05% in February, which means a decrease in relation to the previous month, when it registered 0.46%. The three groups that make up the INCC behaved differently from January to February. Materials and Equipment increased by 0.05% to fall by 0.12%; Services retreated from 1.02% to 0.97% and Labor from 0.70% to 0.02%.
For the coordinator of Price Indices, André Braz, although the producer index has shown a less intense fall (from minus 0.19% to minus 0.04%), the other component indices of the general indicator decelerated, which kept the average variation of the IGP.
“Consumer inflation [from 0.80% to 0.34%] retreated given the deceleration of the Education, Reading and Recreation group and inflation for civil construction [from 0.46% to 0.05%] gave way in the face of the less intense increase registered for the prices of Materials, Equipment and Services and Labor”, said Ibre.