February annual inflation estimated at 0.4%, half January rate – INE

  • Lusa
  • 28 February 2020

The inflation rate was 0.4% in February, down 0.4 percentage points against January. Compared to last month, the Consumer Price Index will have decreased by 0.6%.

Portugal’s annual rate of consumer inflation in February is estimated at 0.4%, half the rate of January, according to a flash estimate by the National Statistics Institute (INE) released on Friday.

According to the INE, underlying inflation – the change in the index excluding unprocessed food and energy products – is estimated to be 0.1% or 0.3 of a point less than in January.

Inflation for the energy products index was 0.9%, against a rate of 3.1% in January.

Overall, the Consumer Price Index in February was down 0.6% on the month. In January, it had been down 0.8%.

In February 2019 prices had fallen 0.2% from the preceding month.

For the last 12 months to February 2020, the INE estimates an average month-on-month change of 0.3%, or 0.1 of a point less than in the 12 months to January.

The Portuguese Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), calculated for comparison with other European Union countries, is estimated to have been up 0.6% in February on a year earlier, having in January been up 0.8% on January 2019.

The final inflation figures for February are to be released on 11 March.