According to data released by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), IPCA-15 (National Consumer Price Index 15) registered a deflation of 0.73% in August this year, the lowest in a historical series that began in 1991 . .

The index registered an inflation rate of 0.13% in July. Based on the results of this month, IPCA-15 accumulates inflation rates of 5.02% per year and 9.60% for 12 months.

The decline in inflation was driven by transport, which deflated at 5.24% – Photo: Marcello Casal Jr/Agência Brasil

The fall in prices seen in the August preview was mainly driven by transport, which registered deflation at 5.24%. The behavior of this group of expenses was affected by the fall in fuel prices (-15.33%).

Among fuels, the decline was 16.80% for gasoline, 10.78% for ethanol, 5.40% for autogas and 0.56% for diesel.

Other deflationary spending groups were housing (-0.37%), with a focus on declining household electricity prices (-3.29%); and communications (-0.30%).

On the other hand, food had the highest price increase in the IPCA-15 over this period (1.12%), a rate similar to that seen in the previous month (1.16%), driven by products such as shelf-stable milk ( 14.21%), fruit (2.99%), cheese (4.18%), and chicken pieces (3.08%).

The health and personal care spending groups also had inflation (0.81%), personal expenses (0.81%), clothing (0.76%), education (0.61%) and household items (0.08 %).