IPCA
Inflation accelerates to 1.31% in February, driven by electricity
March 12, 2025 09h00 AM | Last Updated: March 14, 2025 11h09 PM
Inflation in the country accelerated to 1.31% in February, after recording 0.16% in the previous month. This is the biggest increase for a month of February since 2003 (1.57%) and the highest rate since March 2022 (1.62%). The rise was especially due to the rise of 16.80% in residential electricity, which had an impact of 0.56 percentage points (p.p.) on the index. In the last 12 months, the rate was 5.06%, above the 4.56% in the 12 immediately previous months. Data come from the Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), released today (12) by the IBGE.
About 92% of the result of February is concentrated in four of the nine groups of services surveyed: Housing, Education, Food and beverages and Transportation.
Housing, which accelerated -3.08% in January to 4.44% in February, accounted for the main impact (0.65 p.p.) on the index of the month. “The increase was due to the end of the Itaipu Bonus, which granted discount in invoices in the month of January. As a result, the subitem electricity went from a drop of 14.21% in January to an increase of 16.80% in February,” says Fernando Gonçalves, manager of the IPCA.
The biggest change was observed in Education, with an increase of 4.70% and an impact of 0.28 p.p. on the geeral index. Fernando explains that the drop resulted from price adjustments in school fares in the beginning of the school year, with a highlight to primary education (7.51%), high school (7.27%) and pre school (7.02%).
Food and beverages, in turn, with a change of 0.70% and an impact of 0.15 p.p., decelerated from January (0.96%). Among theincreases, hen eggs (15.39%) and ground coffee (10.77%) stood out. As for drops, the highlights were potato (-4.10%), rice (-1.61%) and long life milk (-1.04%).
“Coffee, a crop that has faced problems, has been on an upwards trend since January 2024. The rise of egg is a result of the increase of exports, after problems related to the avian flu in the United States, and, also of the bigger demand due to the resumption of classes. Besides, the heat affects production, and reduces supply."
The group Transportation, with 0.61% of change and 0.13 p.p. of impact, also decelerated from January (1.30%). With adjustment of ICMS, the result was influenced by the rise of fuels (2.89%): diesel (4.35%), ethanol (3.62%) and gasoline (2.78%). It is worth mentioning that gasoline accounted for the second main individual impact on the index, with 0.14 p.p. Vehicle gas (-0.52%) was the only item recording decrease.
The other groups recorded the following results: Household articles (0.44%), Wearing apparel (0.00%), Health and personal care (0.49%), Personal expenses (0,.3%) and Communication (0.17%)
INPC increases by 1.48% in February
The rise of the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) was 1.48% in February, after null change in January. That was the biggest change in February since 2003 (1.46%) eand the highest result since March 2022 (1.71%).
In the year, the cumulative index is 1.48% and, in the last 12 months, 4.87%, above the 4.17% observed in the immediately previous 12 months.
Food products decelerated from January (0.99%) to February (0.75%). The change of non-food products went from -0.33% in January to 1.72% in February.The manager explains that the weight of electricity is higher in INPC. Regular courses are more relevant in IPCA.
More about the surveys
The IPCA encompasses households with earnings between 1 and 40 minimum wages, whereas the INPC covers households with earnings between 1 and 5 minimum wages, living in the Metropolitan Areas of Belém, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Vitória, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, as well as in the Federal District and in the municipalities of Goiânia, Campo Grande, Rio Branco, São Luís and Aracaju. Please access the data on Sidra. The next result of the IPCA, relative to March, will be released on April 11.
