Consumer prices in October up 0.1% on month, down 0.1% on year

Consumer prices in Portugal rose 0.1% in October, leaving them down 0.1% on October 2019, for the same inflation rate as in September of this year, the National Statistics Institute (INE) confirmed on Wednesday.

According to the INE, the underlying indicator for consumer prices (excluding those for unprocessed food and energy) also showed annual inflation of minus 0.1%, or 0.1 of a percentage point higher than in September, again in line with the flash estimate already published.

Year-on-year inflation in energy prices was minus 6.0% (compared with minus 5.6% in the previous month), while that for unprocessed food stood at 4.6% (compared with a rate of 4.2% in September), the INE adds.

In September prices had been up 1.0% on the month.

The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which is used in comparisons with other European Union countries, was down 0.1% on the month and down 0.6% on a year earlier (compared with minus 0.8% in September), or 0.3 of a point lower than the figure estimated by Eurostat, the EU statistics office, for the euro area.

As for housing prices, in October rents per square metre were up 0.2% on the month and up 2.1% on a year earlier, a rate 0.2 of a point lower than in the previous month.

All Portugal’s regions saw positive year-on-year changes in rents, with that in the North the largest, at 2.3%.

The regions with the highest month-on-month increases were Madeira and the Algarve, where rents were up 0.3%. No region saw a decline in rent per square metre.