Portugal’s economic activity slows ahead of new restrictions

  • Lusa e ECO News
  • 23 December 2021

The daily economic indicator (DEI) shows a reduction in the year-on-year growth rate of economic activity in the week ending December 19.

Portugal’s daily economic indicator (DEI), which tracks the economy’s performance in almost real-time, shows a reduction in the year-on-year growth rate of economic activity in the week ended on December 19, the Bank of Portugal (BoP) announced on Thursday.

“In a context of uncertainty resulting from the current evolution of the pandemic, in the week ended on December 19, the daily economic indicator (DEI) points to a reduction of the year-on-year growth rate of economic activity, while the corresponding biennial rate increased over the same period,” the central bank said in a statement.

The DEI is an indicator launched by the BoP to “more easily” identify abrupt changes in economic activity, but it is not an official forecast of the Bank of Portugal or the Eurosystem.

Released weekly, the DEI covers several dimensions correlated with economic activity in Portugal by summarising information on the following daily variables: road traffic of heavy commercial vehicles on motorways, electricity and natural gas consumption, cargo and mail landed at national airports, and card-based payments in Portugal by residents and non-residents.