Cristiane Ribeiro
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio – Inflation gauged by the Broad Consumer Price Index (IPCA) registered a 0.61% increase in March, which was close to the 0.59% rate registered in February. The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) announced the number this Friday (8).

With this result, the index accumulates in the first quarter of 2005, an increase of 1.79%, which is less than the 1.85% registered in the first quarter of 2004. In the 12-month period completed in March, the IPCA was 7.54%, higher than the 7.39% registered in the previous 12-month period. In March of 2004, the IPCA was 0.47%.

The IPCA measures the inflation of the expenses of a family with income of up to 40 minimum wages, in nine metropolitan areas of Brazil (Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Curitiba, Recife, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Belém, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador), as well as Brasília and Goiânia.

Translation: Andréa Alves