November inflation was 0.55%

Daisy Nascimento

Reporter - Agencia Brasil

Rio de Janeiro - November inflation, measured by the Broad Consumer Price Index (IPCA), was 0.55%. This result represents a reduction of 0.20 percentage point in comparison with October's, which was 0.75%.

The cumulative index for this year (5.31%) is also less than last year's (6.68%).

For the last 12 months, IPCA was 6.22%, while from December 2003 to November 2004 it was 6.36%. In November 2004, IPCA was 0.69%.

The overall index reduction in November can be explained by the prices in the transportation sector, especially the moderate increase on prices of gasoline and urban bus fare. Information by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) was released this Friday (9).

The IPCA, used by the government to define official inflation goals, processes the spending of families that earn up to 40 minimum wages per month, in nine metropolitan regions of the country, in addition to the municipalities of Goiania and Brasilia. November numbers were calculated based on the comparison between prices gathered during two consecutive periods: October 27th to November 29th and September 27th to October 26th.

Translation: Andréa Alves