Inflation at 10-year high

Portugal’s National Statistics Institute has confirmed that the inflation rate of 4.2% in February.

It was the same percentage issued in an preliminary report from the INE and represents an increase of 0.9% in relation to the previous month. Core inflation, which does not factor in the volatility of unprocessed energy and foodstuffs and is in line with the initial estimate of 3.2%.
The inflation rate is the highest since 2012 and highlights the pressure on prices in the Portuguese economy which compares to what is being experienced in most advanced economies.
Nevertheless, Portugal has managed to have one of the lowest inflation rate indicators in the euro zone, with Eurostat revealing the second lowest inflation rate out of all of the countries which use the euro.
The result released on Friday also represents a quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.4% which compares to the 0.3% recorded for the previous month, and places the average variation rate for prices over the past 12 months at 1.8%. In January, the average had been at 1.5%.
Inflation in energy, the main driver of the consumer prices index (ICP) rose to 15% after having been at 12.1%. In the non-processed foodstuffs category there was a like-for-like increase in prices of 3.7% after 3.4% the previous month.
Looking at the other categories that make up the indicator, transport has increased 8.5% while restaurants and hotels saw a variation of 5.2%. All like-for-like variations saw an increase in prices in percentage terms for the third month running.