By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s IPCA (Consumer Price Index) rose by 0.57 percent in September according to the IBGE (Brazilian Statistics Bureau) after registering an increase of 0.25 percent in August. In September of 2013 the IPCA rate was at 0.35 percent.
According to Eulina Nunes dos Santos, coordinator of the price index at the IBGE, the hike in meat prices was the main factor for the increase in the IPCA. The 3.17 percent increase was the highest monthly price increase for the meat segment since October of 2013. “Ranchers argue that pastures are still very dry,” said Santos in a press conference to announce the index.
“It is more difficult and more costly to fatten the cattle.” Santos also said that high foreign demand for meats leads to an increase in domestic prices, “Brazil is the main exporter of meats and prices for the product have been rising since the beginning of the year.”
Air travel also registered a significant increase in September, rising by 17.85 percent. According to the IBGE the hike partly returns the steep decline seen in July, when sector prices fell by 26.86 percent. For the year the IPCA index accumulates an increase of 4.61 percent and in a twelve-month period a hike of 6.75 percent, above the government’s target of 6.5 percent.
On Monday, a survey conducted by Brazil’s Central Bank revealed that financial analysts were decreasing their estimate of Brazil’s economic growth from 0.29 percent to 0.24 percent this year. The next day it was the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) turn to put a damper on Brazil’s economic forecast, by revising GDP growth estimates downwards from 1.3 percent to 0.3 percent.