Zero inflation in 2020 after a YoY fall of -0.2% in December – INE
According to Statistics Portugal (INE) announced that the year-on-year rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was -0.2% in December and the average for the year was zero.
Statistics Portugal (INE) on Wednesday confirmed that the year-on-year rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was -0.2% in December, the same as in November, and the average for the year was zero.
The zero change for 2020 follows a rate of 0.3% recorded for 2019 as a whole. According to INE, excluding energy and unprocessed food from the CPI, the average rate of change was also zero (0.5% in the previous year).
“The decrease in the rate of change of the CPI between 2019 and 2020 was influenced by the behaviour of underlying inflation and the negative evolution of energy prices, which recorded annual average changes of 0.0% and -5.0% respectively (0.5% and -1.8% in 2019). Unprocessed food prices increased by 4.0% in 2020, up from 0.9% a year earlier,” the institute said.
In 2020, as in previous years, there was higher average annual growth in the prices of services than goods.
In 2020, the prices of services rose by 0.7% (changes of 1.2% and 1.7% respectively in 2019 and 2018), while the average rate of change in the prices of goods was -0.5% (-0.3% and 0.5% in 2019 and 2018), it points out.
In December 2020, the CPI recorded a year-on-year change of -0.2%, the same rate as in November and excluding energy and unprocessed food from the CPI, the year-on-year change was -0.1% (-0.2% in the previous month).
In monthly terms, the CPI was -0.1% in December (-0.3% in the previous month and -0.1% in December 2019).
The Portuguese Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) recorded an average rate of change of -0.1% in 2020 (0.3% in the previous year).
The year-on-year rate of change was -0.3% in December, 0.1 percentage points higher than in November 2020 and identical to that estimated by Eurostat for the euro area.
