Brazil's inflation accelerates to 4.39% in April driven by food and pharmaceuticals
Key takeaways
- The national consumer price index advanced 0.67% from the previous month, 0.21 percentage points below March, reflecting a slower monthly pace even as the annual comparison continues to climb.
- Food and beverages posted a 1.34% monthly increase and accumulated a 3.44% rise in the first four months of the year.
- Housing rose 0.63% in April, lifted by higher prices for cooking gas (3.74%) and residential electricity (0.72%).
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Year-on-year inflation in Brazil accelerated to 4.39% in April, up from 4.14% in March, pressured mainly by rising prices for food and pharmaceuticals, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reported on Tuesday. The national consumer price index advanced 0.67% from the previous month, 0.21 percentage points below March, reflecting a slower monthly pace even as the annual comparison continues to climb.
Food and beverages posted a 1.34% monthly increase and accumulated a 3.44% rise in the first four months of the year. Within that category, the products that rose most were carrots, up 26.6%; long-life milk, up 13.6%; and onions, up 11.7%. Pharmaceuticals also weighed on the monthly result with a 1.77% increase, after the official authorization of an adjustment of up to 3.81% in drug prices starting in April.
Housing rose 0.63% in April, lifted by higher prices for cooking gas (3.74%) and residential electricity (0.72%). Transport, by contrast, decelerated sharply from a monthly 1.64% to 0.06%, helped by a 14.45% drop in airfares. Fuels, however, kept upward pressure with a 1.80% rise led by gasoline, which despite easing its pace contributed 0.10 percentage points to the monthly index.