In June, the Euro Area (EA) economic sentiment indicator decreased, extending the downward profile observed since February of 2022. The prices of raw-materials and oil presented monthly rates of change of 1.1% and -0.6%, respectively (-6.1% and -10.0% in May).
In Portugal, the industrial production price index presents a continuous descendent path since June 2022, registering negative year-on-year rates of change between April and June 2023 (-0.9%, -3.5% and -5.8%, respectively), which had not happened since February 2021, after increases of 8.9% and 0.1% in February and March. The grouping of Energy was decisive for the reduction of the total index, with rates of -20.8% and -24.7% in May and June, respectively. Excluding the energy component, this index decelerated to 0.8% (2.2% in May). The index for consumer goods recorded a year-on-year growth rate of 6.4% (8.1% in the previous month), decelerating for the seventh consecutive month, after reaching in November the highest growth of the current series (16.2%).
The year-on-year rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) diminished to 3.4% in June, 0.6 percentage points (p.p.) less than in the previous month, strongly influenced by a base effect resulting from the increase in the price of Fuels in June 2022. The index for unprocessed food decelerated, from 8.9% in May to 8.5% in June. On the external side, the implicit prices of exports and imports of goods, in May, registered year-on-year rates of change -2.3% and -6.5%, respectively (0.7% and -5.0% in April).
The short-term indicators for economic activity from the perspective of production, available for May, point to decrease in Industry and an acceleration in Services and Construction. From the expenditure side, the economic activity indicator increased more intensely in May, while the Gross Fixed Capital Formation indicator increased in year-on-year terms and the private consumption indicator decelerated. The economic climate indicator, which summarizes the balances of responses to questions relating to business surveys, stabilized in June, after having decreased in May.
According to the provisional monthly Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted was 6.4% in May, 0.1 percentage points less than in the previous month (6.9% in February and 6.0% in May 2022). The labour underutilization rate (16 to 74 years old) stood at 11.9%, identical to that recorded in the previous month (12.1% in February and 11.5% in the same period of the previous year). The employed population (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, increased by 1.3% in year-on-year terms and 0.1% compared with the previous month (year-on-year rate of change of 1.0% in April).
