The price of food put pressure on Brazilians' pockets in May and represented half of inflation, which varied by 0.58% last month. The result shows that the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) lost strength compared to the previous two months. However, it brought the 12-month cumulative figure to 4.72%, leaving the tolerance limit stipulated by the government. Related news: Financial market raises inflation forecast to 5.11% this year. Inflation is high for low-income families in April, says Ipea. Inflation slows down and closes April at 0.67%, pressured by food. The data was released this Friday (12) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The inflation target stipulated by the National Monetary Council (CMN) is 3%, with a tolerance of 1.5 percentage points (p.p.) more or less, that is, a range of 1.5% to 4.5%.  Since the beginning of 2025, the target evaluation period refers to the 12 months immediately past and not just what was achieved at the end of the year (December). The ceiling is breached if inflation exceeds the tolerance interval for six months in a row. The last time the 12-month accumulated figure was outside the limit was in October 2025, when it was 4.68%. See the behavior of monthly inflation throughout 2026: May: 0.58% April: 0.67% March: 0.88% February: 0.70% January: 0.33% May's IPCA came in above market estimates. The Focus Bulletin last Monday (8), a survey by the Central Bank (BC) with financial market agents, projects that May inflation would be 0.48%. For the end of 2026, the market projects 5.11%. Food pressure IBGE investigates the behavior of nine price groups. The one that rose the most was food and beverages, with an increase of 1.33%. This represents an impact of 0.29 percentage points on the month's IPCA, that is, half of May's inflation. Items that most impacted the index: potato (+44.69% and impact of 0.09 p.p.); tomato (20.62% and 0.06 p.p.); meat (+1.39% and 0.04 p.p.); onion (+16.80% and 0.02 p.p.). May was the third month in a row with food inflation above 1%. In the first five months of the year, the food and drink group rose 4.81%. Looking specifically at the months of May, the rate in 2026 (1.33%) is the highest since 2015 (1.37%). The research manager, Fernando Gonçalves, points out that the rise in food prices is explained by a lower supply of some products and shipping prices. "We use a lot of road freight." Gonçalves adds that the rise in the price of fertilizers – a reflection of the conflict in the Middle East – may also have increased the cost of food production and been passed on to the consumer. If the group were removed from the IPCA calculation, May inflation would have been 0.37%. Electrical energy The second group that put the most pressure on inflation was housing, which rose 1.22% and represented an impact of 0.18%. The explanation lies in the price of residential electricity, which rose by 3.67%. The electricity bill was the individual cost that increased inflation the most last month, with an impact of 0.15 p.p. The specialist explains that the bill weighed more on his pocket due to the implementation of the yellow tariff flag, which represents an increase of R$ 1,885 for every 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) consumed. For June, the yellow flag is also valid. Furthermore, IBGE monitored contractual adjustments to electricity bills in six regions: Aracaju, Fortaleza, Salvador, Campo Grande, Recife and Belo Horizonte. The IPCA is a national index, but regional impacts are included in the country's average inflation. Fuel relief The transport group was the only one with deflation (average price drop) in the month, falling 0.46%. The explanation lies in the price of fuel (-1.95%), which reduced the cost of refueling. ethanol: -6.20% diesel oil: -2.34% gasoline: -1.46% Gasoline was the product that pushed inflation down the most in the entire May IPCA (impact of -0.08 p.p.). Vehicle gas made the opposite movement: up 5.81% in May. Distribution The diffusion index, which checks how distributed inflation is, shows that 65% of the 377 products and services surveyed had an increase in prices in May. The IBGE disaggregates the IPCA into two groups, services, which contains prices that are most influenced by the heating or cooling of the economy – that is, more susceptible to the basic interest rate, the Selic – and monitored prices, which are usually controlled by contracts, and fuels. In May, the services group had inflation of 0.40%, totaling 5.97% in 12 months. The monitored group was 0.43% in the month and 5.85% in 12 months. The index The IPCA calculates the cost of living for families with income between one and 40 minimum wages. Price collection is carried out in ten metropolitan regions - Belém, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Vitória, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre - in addition to Brasília and in the capitals Goiânia, Campo Grande, Rio Branco, São Luís and Aracaju.  Article amended at 10:21 am to add information.