Summary
In the Euro Area (EA), in spite of the oil price recent evolution, the economic sentiment and the consumer confidence indicators extended in August the downward movement observed since August 2007.On the domestic side, the economic climate indicator, available up to August, and the economic activity indicator, available until July, declined. The private consumption indicator recovered in July due to the positive evolution of durable and non-durable consumption, partially reflecting the effect of the previously announced reduction of the VAT tax. The GFCF indicator might have deteriorated in July, what was common to all components but especially intense in transport material. On the supply side, the Short Term Indicators information revealed in July declines in industry and construction and a recovery in services, only determined by trade. Concerning the international trade, both imports (from 9.1% to 8.3%) and exports (from 3.3% to 2.2%) registered a slowdown in July in nominal terms.In August, year-on-year inflation was 3.0%, 0.1 p.p. less than in the previous month. The differential between the EA Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and the Portuguese HICP decreased 0.2 p.p. in August to 0.7 p.p..Report based on information available up to September 16, 2008.