Number of the week

Why Brazil’s automotive inflation is at its highest in 21 years

A combination of fuel prices, supply chain disruptions, and an unfavorable exchange rate has made it a bad time to be a Brazilian driver

inflation drivers
From Uber drivers to truckers, anyone working behind the wheel in Brazil has seen costs skyrocket. Photo: Facundo Florit/Shutterstock

Welcome to “Number of the Week,” where we choose a single figure that helps understand what is going on in Brazil. This week, we show why Brazil’s automotive inflation is at its highest since 2000. 

18.5%
12-month inflation drivers have faced

Living in Brazil is expensive these days. In September, the country’s consumer price index, IPCA – the official measure of inflation – ended the 12-month period at 10.25 percent, reaching double-digits for the first time since 2016, when the country faced its worst recession. As seen in previous months, the index was driven upwards above all due to price increases for electricity, cooking gas canisters, fuels, and food. 

Consequently, keeping a car has also become very costly. According to a survey carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Economics at think tank Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-Ibre), automotive inflation – or rather, the inflation of items involved in the acquisition and maintenance of vehicles in the country – rose at almost twice the official rate. In the 12-month period till October,...

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