It is official: Inflation in Portugal Relaxed in March for the fifth straight month. The Institute of National Statistics (INE) confirmed this Thursday (March 13), that inflation fell to 7.4% in March 2023, down 0.8 percentage points (pp) from what was observed the previous month. behind this Reduce inflation It declines in our country Energy prices and a slow one food price
“The year-on-year change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 7.4% in March 2023, down 0.8 percentage points (pp) from the rate recorded in the previous month”, read Report card Released this Thursday. Rounded to one decimal place, this rate corresponds to the flash estimate published on March 31.
In this slow Inflation in Portugal March is partly explained by base effects resulting from energy and food price developments:
- o Prices of energy products March fell by -4.4% (previous month 1.9%), the first negative value since February 2021;
- o Prices of food products Non-manufactured goods declined, registering a 19.3% change in March (20.1% in February).
INE highlights the decrease in the rate of change over the years transport And Food products and non-alcoholic beverages. On the contrary, changes in communication, health care and restaurant and hotel prices.
Also Underlying inflation – which excludes unprocessed food and energy products – recorded a change of 7.0% in March, lower than the rate recorded in February (7.2%). Its monthly variation Inflation in Portugal was 1.7% (0.3% in the previous month and 2.5% in March 2022). And the average change in CPI over the past twelve months was 8.7% (8.6% in February).
to compare Inflation Within the various countries of the Eurozone, the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is used. And, according to INE, the Portuguese HICP also fell in March, showing a year-on-year change of 8.0%, 0.6 pp lower than in February. On the other hand, this rate is 1.1 pp higher than the value estimated by Eurostat for the euro area (in February, this difference was 0.1 pp).
Excluding unprocessed food and energy products, Portugal’s HICP reached an annual change of 8.1% in March (8.0% in February), higher than the corresponding rate. euro area (approximately 7.5%). The monthly change in the Portuguese HICP was 2.0% in March 2023 (0.4% in the previous month and 2.6% in March 2022). And the average change over the last twelve months was 9.1% in March (8.9% in the previous month).
It is important to note that the recent decline Inflation in Portugal And in the euro area mainly due to the tightening of monetary policy conducted by the European Central Bank (ECB) by raising key interest rates by 350 basis points. such as Inflation Remaining “too high” and far from the 2% target, the European regulator is expected to raise interest rates again.