Summary
In March, the economic sentiment indicator maintained the upward movement observed in the previous months in the Euro Area (EA) and in the European Union (EU27). In the same month, the consumer confidence indicator recovered again in the EU27, but diminished in the EA.
In Portugal, the economic climate indicator increased in March, opposing the slight downward movement observed in the three previous months. The economic activity indicator recovered in February, maintaining the positive path observed since June. The private consumption indicator increased again in February, due to the positive contribution of both components, non-durable and durable consumption, more intense in the second case. In the same month, the GFCF indicator diminished less intensely, driven by the evolution of the transport material and construction components. Concerning the international trade of goods, in February the imports and exports presented year-on-year nominal growths of 2.4% and 7.6% (-2.5% and 2.5% in January respectively). This was the first positive year-on-year nominal change rate of the imports of goods since October 2008. 
In March, the year-on-year change rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 0.5%, 0.3 p.p. higher than the observed in the previous month. Excluding energy and unprocessed food products, the year-on-year change stabilized at -0.4%. The differential between the EA Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and the Portuguese HICP increased 0.1 p.p. in March comparing with the previous month, to 0.8 p.p..