Inflation receded in April to 5.7%, down 1.7 percentage points from March, ahead of the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The slowdown is partly attributable to “the base effect of the April 2022 electricity, gas and food price increases,” INE said in a statement released this Thursday.
Core inflation, the overall index excluding raw food and energy, also fell to a record 6.6% (0.3 percentage points down from the previous month).
The inflation rate in April is the lowest since March 2022, when it was 5.3%.
According to the statistics authority, “this slowdown is partly due to the base effect from the increase in electricity, gas and food prices, confirmed in April 2022.”
In the reporting month, the core inflation rate (CPI excluding unprocessed food and energy products) slowed down by 0.4 percentage points. in the chain, up to 6.6%.
In turn, the change in the energy index decreased to -12.7% (-4.4% in the previous month), while the index for unprocessed food products slowed to 14.1% (19.3% change in the previous month). ).
INE points out that “the vast majority of prices taken into account in the calculation of the April CPI were collected before the VAT exemption on a set of basic food items came into force, so the possible effects of this measure will only effectively affect the IPC in May.”
By expenditure category and month-on-month, INE highlights April’s decline in annual change rates for “housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels” and “food and non-alcoholic beverages.” with variations of 0.0% and 15.4% respectively (6.7% and 19.6% in the previous month).
On the other hand, price changes in the “alcoholic beverages and tobacco” and “leisure, recreation and culture” classes increased to 6.5% and 4.6% respectively (4.1% and 4.2% a month earlier).
In April, among the classes with the largest positive contribution to the annual change in the CPI, “food products and non-alcoholic beverages” stand out, and, in the opposite direction, the negative contribution of “transport” stands out. .
According to INE, the monthly change in the CPI was 0.6% in April (1.7% in the previous month and 2.2% in April 2022), and excluding unprocessed food and energy, the change in this indicator was 1.0% (2.0% in the previous month and 1.5% in April 2022).
The average change in the CPI over the past 12 months was 8.6%, down 0.1 percentage point from March.
As for the Harmonized Consumer Price Index (HICP), it showed an annualized change of 6.9% in April, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous month and 0.1 percentage point below the value calculated Eurostat. for the eurozone (in March, the rate in Portugal was 1.1 percentage points higher than in the eurozone).
Excluding unprocessed food and energy products, Portugal’s HICP changed at an annualized rate of 8.2% in April (8.1% in March), higher than the corresponding figure for the euro area (estimated at 7.3%) .
In April, the HICP registered a monthly change of 1.3% (2.0% in the previous month and 2.4% in April 2022) and an average change over the past 12 months of 9.0% (9.1% in the previous month ).
Author: morning Post This Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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