Dragon watch

Several of Brazil’s multitude of inflation measures rose even faster in January than they did in December. One called General Price Index – Internal Availability, which measures prices of everything from raw materials to final goods and services increased by .98 percent in January, compared to .38 percent in December. This latest rise means prices of goods in that index have gone up 11.27 percent in the last twelve months. The increase appears to have been largely due to the increase in prices of raw materials.

Perhaps more indicative of what affects the average Brazilian, the Consumer Price Index increased 1.27 percent in January, compared with .72 percent in December. The rise was mainly in the cost for education, reading, recreation, as well as transportation and housing expenses expenses.