Lisbon, Jan. 13, 2025 (Lusa) - The year-on-year inflation rate was 3.0% last December, 0.5 percentage points higher than in November, with the average change for 2024 standing at 2.4%, compared to 4.3% in 2023, INE said on Monday.
Rounded to one decimal place, the rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December released today by Statistics Portugal (INE) confirms the value of the flash estimate released on 30 December 2024.
The underlying inflation indicator, which excludes more volatile products such as food and energy, recorded a year-on-year change of 2.8% in December (2.6% in the previous month) and an average rate of change in 2024 of 2.5% (5.0% in the previous year).
According to INE, "the year-on-year rate of change in the total CPI showed relative stability throughout the year [of 2024], registering a minimum of 1.9% in August and a maximum of 3.0% in December, which contrasts with the significant deceleration seen in 2023".
"The decrease in the rate of change of the CPI between 2023 and 2024 was influenced by the behaviour of underlying inflation, which showed an average annual change of 2.5% (5.0% in the previous year), and by the deceleration of unprocessed food products, which showed an average annual change of 1.6% (9.5% in 2023)," he said.
"Conversely, energy products, which made a negative contribution in 2023, made a positive contribution to the average rate of change in 2024," he adds.
Last year saw a decrease in the average annual change in the price of goods and a "slight decrease" in services. The change in the price of goods fell to 1.2% (4.1% in 2023), while the average rate of change in the price of services was 4.2% (4.6% the previous year).
The statistical institute noted that the year-on-year rate of change in the total CPI "showed a tendency to stabilise throughout 2024, with very close figures for the average change in the two halves of the year: 2.5% in the first half and 2.4% in the second".
This stabilisation in the CPI reflected the behaviour of most product categories, namely underlying inflation, with the changes in the total index "essentially reflecting the behaviour of energy products".
Considering only December 2024, INE details that the year-on-year change in the aggregate for energy products increased to 4.9% (2.1% in the previous month), and the index for unprocessed food products to 3.4% (1.9% change in November).
In monthly terms, the CPI rose by 0.1% in December, compared to -0.2% in the previous month and -0.4% in December 2023.
The Portuguese Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) recorded an average rate of change of 2.7% in 2024 (5.3% the previous year) and a year-on-year rate of change of 3.1% in December. This is 0.4 percentage points higher than in November 2024 and 0.7 percentage points higher than the figure estimated by Eurostat for the Euro area (in November 2024, this difference was 0.5 percentage points).
Excluding unprocessed food and energy products, the HICP in Portugal reached a year-on-year rate of change of 3.0% in December (2.9% in November), higher than the corresponding rate for the Euro area (estimated at 2.8%).
PD/ADB // ADB.
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