A survey carried out by FGV’s Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE) revealed an upsurge in school supplies prices compared to last year, although these prices are still below the cumulative inflation rate measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). School supplies rose 1.02% on average between January and December 2018, while the IPC-S cumulative inflation reached 4.32%. This hike in prices does not consider variations in textbooks and non-textbooks.

Nonetheless, parents will have to buckle down and research prices to save money, since prices vary significantly from store to store. According to the survey led by IBRE researcher André Braz, other products and services that showed higher prices, besides school supplies, were school bus (5.19%), textbooks (0.50%) and non-textbooks (0.46%).

“Some of these items may vary in January due to demand, which tends to increase as we approach the beginning of the school year. Regardless, the variation was well below the cumulative inflation in the period”, said André Braz, CPI coordinator at the IBRE.