CPI annual rate of change stood at 0.5% in March

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) annual rate is estimated to be 0.5% in March, the same as last month, the Statistics Portugal (INE) reported this Wednesday.

According to the same data, the core inflation index, which excludes energy and unprocessed food products components, decelerated in March, from a year-on-year change of 0.7% in February to 0.2%.

In turn, the annual rate of change of the index for energy products is estimated to be 2.3%, significantly higher than in the previous month (-3%), while the estimated rate for unprocessed food is 1.3% (1.4% in February).

Compared to February, the estimated CPI monthly rate had a variation of 1.4% (in February, the monthly variation was -0.5% and in March it had been 1.4%), “while the CPI 12-month average rate was estimated to be nil (the same value as in the previous month).”

The Portuguese Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) annual rate of change was 0.1% (0.3% in the previous month).