“Everything is very expensive; prices are at the point of death; only the government sees a drop in inflation.”
Phrases like these are repeated in supermarket queues, markets, bakeries and pharmacies.
They reflect the frustration of those who, when paying for purchases, realize that their income no longer buys the same amount of goods and services as before – the distance, in everyday life, between what the inflation indicators and the cost effective to maintain the consumption pattern.
From a technical point of view, inflation is the generalized and continuous increase in prices. In Brazil, it is officially measured by the IPCA (Broad National Consumer Price Index). Cost of living, in turn, is how much a family needs to spend to sustain its consumption pattern in a given location.
The problem is that, even with aea, the gain has been insufficient to restore purchasing power.
As economics and politics mix, the paradox of the current government emerges: although it delivers positive macroeconomic numbers – GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growing (albeit), falling unemployment, appreciation of the minimum wage and expanding income -, because the perception of families is that the budget is tight.
The index is higher than the 4.14% up to March, but lower than the 4.68% recorded in the 12 months up to April last year.
In the timeline, despite being above the center of the target (3%), it is reasonable to say that inflation is under control and that monetary policy has prevented a generalized escalation in prices.
For Rodrigo Simões, director of FAC-SP Studies Center (Faculty of Commerce of São Paulo)linked to ACSP (São Paulo Commercial Association)the popular reading makes sense because inflation does not measure the price level, but rather the speed of the increase.
“Everyone incorporates a price increase in labor, rent, logistics, and often this does not return to the previous level. Everything remains more expensive, because, after the increase, you cannot reduce prices”, he states.
Another factor is that, although income grows, the cost of living often increases faster. “There is a negative difference: the cost of living, proportionally, grows more than the salary”, says Simões.
Survey by the teacher, at the request of the Broadcast – real-time news system from Grupo Estado and content partner of CNN Money -, points out that, from 2011 to 2025, the value of the basic basket varied 205,1%from R$277.27 to R$845.95, while the minimum wage rose 178.5%, from R$545.00 to R$1,518.00.
In 2011, the basket consumed 50.88% of the minimum; in 2025, 55.73%. “It became more expensive to eat, and people stopped consuming other things.”
In April, according to the National Food Basket Survey, carried out in partnership between Dieese (Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies) and Conab (National Supply Company), the value of the basket varied from R$619.32 in Aracaju (SE) – the lowest – to R$906.14 in São Paulo – the highest.
From March to April, the basket rose 3.49% in Aracaju and 2.51% in São Paulo.
In the capital of São Paulo, to buy the basket, the consumer paid in April the equivalent of 60.43% of the minimum wage of R$1,621.00.
Based on the value of the basket in São Paulo, the most expensive in the country, Dieese and Conab estimate that the minimum wage should be R$7,612.49 to cover a family’s expenses with housing, health, education, clothing, hygiene, transport, leisure and pensions, in accordance with the constitutional provision.
