In the Euro Area (EA), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in volume increased 0.4% in year-on-year terms in the first quarter of 2024 (0.2% in the previous quarter) and 0.3% in quarter-on-quarter terms (-0.1% in the fourth quarter).
In Portugal, GDP in real terms registered a year-on-year rate of change of 1.5% in the first quarter (2.1% in the previous quarter) and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.8% (0.7% in the previous quarter). The industrial production price index reached a year-on-year rate of change of 0.7% in May (-0.9% in April), presenting a positive rate after twelve consecutive negative months. The rate of change in the grouping of Energy accelerated to 4.4%, after being 0.4% in the preceding month. Excluding the energy component, this index registered a null variation (-1.2% in previous month), and the index for consumer goods recorded a year on year growth rate of 3.0% in May (2.8% in April).
The year-on-year rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 3.1% in May, 0.9 percentage points more than in the previous month. This acceleration mainly reflects the base effect related to the monthly decrease registered in May 2023 (-0.7%), as a consequence of the VAT exemption for several essential food items, and, to a lesser extent, the acceleration in the prices of hotels. On the external side, the implicit prices of exports and imports of goods continued to record negative rates of change, which were -1.8% in exports and -2.8% in imports in April (-2.9% and -3.2%, respectively, in March). Excluding petroleum products, there were decreases of 2.4% in exports and 4.5% in imports (rates of change of -2.8% and -3.9% in March).
The short-term indicators, available for April, point to a nominal acceleration in services and in real terms in construction, and to an acceleration in industry in real and nominal terms. The economic climate indicator, which summarizes the balances of responses to questions relating to business surveys, increased in May, after decreasing in the previous month. From the expenditure side, the economic activity indicator increased in year-on-year terms between September and April, more intensely in the last month. The investment indicator increased, in year-on-year terms, in March and April, and the private consumption indicator stabilized.
According to the provisional monthly Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, was 6.3%, 0.1 percentage points less than in the previous month (6.5% in January and 6.6% in April 2023). The labour underutilization rate (16 to 74 years old) stood at 11.1%, 0.1 percentage points below the value recorded in March (11.5% in January and 12.0% in the same period of the previous year).
The employed population (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, increased by 1.5% in year-on-year terms and decreased 0.4% compared with the previous month (year-on-year rate of change of 2.1% in March).
