In 2023, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) registered an average annual rate of change of 4.3% (7.8% in 2022). The average annual rate of change of the core inflation rate, which excludes energy and unprocessed food products, was 5.0% in 2023 (5.6% in the previous year). The deceleration of the CPI occurred in most product categories, reflecting the base effect associated with the price increases registered in 2022, as well as the price decreases of energy goods in the first half of 2023 and the exemption of VAT rates of essential food items in effect since May. Concerning industrial production, there was a decrease in prices, with the respective index presenting an average annual rate of change of -2.2% (after 20.5% in 2022, the highest in the series). Excluding the energy component, the average annual rate of change was 2.4%, 12.1 percentage points lower than that observed in 2022. Regarding the implicit prices of imports of goods, there was an average rate of change of -5.0% between January and November 2023 (+20.4% in 2022). Excluding petroleum products there was a decrease of 1.7% in the first eleven months of 2023 (growth of 13.5% in the previous year).

The overall amount of national withdrawals, payment of services and purchases at automatic payment terminals carried out on the automatic teller machines of the Multibanco network presented a year-on-year increase of 2.6% in December (rate of change of 2.2% in the previous month). Excluding payment of services there was an increase of 4.7% in December (4.6% in November) and an annual growth of 7.1% in 2023 (19.6% in 2022).

The short-term indicators, available for November, point to a deceleration of the construction sector, in volume, and of services, in nominal terms, and to decreases in industry. On the expenditure perspective, the composite indicators of economic activity and Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) accelerated in November, while the private consumption indicator decelerated.

According to the provisional monthly Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, stood at 6.6% in November for the third consecutive month (6.3% in August and 6.5% in November 2022). The labour underutilization rate (16 to 74 years old) was 11.6%, 0.2 percentage points below the value recorded in October (11.6% in August and 11.8% in the same period of the previous year).The employed population (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, increased by 1.8% in year-on-year terms and 0.2% compared with the previous month (year-on-year rate of change of 1.4% in October).