Cost of living in Brazil: inflation accelerates

Brazil's Broad Consumer Price Index (IPCA) rose from 0.43% to 0.75% between February and March 2019, according to IBGE data. This is the 4th consecutive high of inflation and the highest index for March since 2015.

Therefore, the IPCA closed the month of March with a rise of 0.75%, which is above the top of the market estimates, which were between 0.50% and 0.70%.

As a result, the IPCA accumulated in 12 months jumps from 3.89% (well below the target of 4.25% to 4.58% (well above the target)

The item that had the highest growth was gasoline, which rose 2.99% and accounted for 0.12 percentage points of the inflation indicator.

Tomato and bean prices were the highest among food items. The tomato increased by 31.84% in the monthly comparison. Beans racked up 105 percent of the growth in its prices in the first quarter.