Inflation of retirees exceeds IPCA in 2022 in virtually the entire country

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Inflation for retirees was 6.4% last year, surpassing the 5.93% readjustment given to INSS beneficiaries who earn amounts above the minimum wage.

The calculation considers the Retired IPCA, created by economist Arnaldo Lima, director of the MAG Longevity Institute, former secretary of the Ministry of Finance and former director of Funpresp (pension fund for federal employees).

The indicator also points to a real loss of income in 11 out of 16 metropolitan areas.

The index is based on the same variation of the items that make up the IPCA (Extended Consumer Price Index), calculated by the IBGE and which serves as an inflation target. Last year, the IPCA was 5.8%.

However, a weighting is made on the weight of each product and service based on the consumption basket for households with at least one person receiving retirement or pension –from the INSS, the public service or supplementary pension, considering data from the family budget survey of the IBGE.

The law establishes that the amount of benefits paid by the INSS must be readjusted annually based on the INPC, which measures the inflation of families with an income of 1 to 5 minimum wages. The IPCA, in turn, considers households with income of up to 40 minimum wages.

Retirees who earn the minimum wage had a readjustment of 7.43% in 2023, which guaranteed a real increase in relation to all the above rates. The government is still evaluating a new readjustment of the minimum this year, from R$ 1,302 to R$ 1,320, starting May 1

Consumption by families with retirees is relatively more focused on items such as health and food. Spending on transport, education and housing is proportionally lower.

Last year, inflation was driven mainly by high food prices, which affects more the consumption basket of families with retirees. These products represented an additional percentage point of inflation for these households.

Retirement inflation was below the IPCA 2021, but started to rise stronger from the middle of last year.

Regionally, the index of retirees was below the INSS readjustment in Vitória (ES), Curitiba (PR), Porto Alegre (RS), Campo Grande (MS) and Goiânia (GO). In these places, therefore, there was a real increase in the benefit.

In Belém (PA), São Luís (MA), Aracaju (SE), Salvador (BA), Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and São Paulo (SP), the loss of income was above the national average.

Lima claims that retirees represent an increasingly relevant portion of the Brazilian economy, but that there was no price indicator specifically aimed at this population.

Brazil had 26.7 million retirees in 2021, representing 27% of the population. In 2012, this share was 23%.

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