In December, the consumer confidence and the economic sentiment indicators increased in the Euro Area. In the same month, prices of raw-materials and oil presented monthly growth rates of -1.0% and 1.8%, respectively (-0.2% and 9.2% in November).
In Portugal, the economic activity indicator, available until November, increased while the economic climate indicator, already available for December, decreased. The quantitative indicator of private consumption stabilized in November, reflecting a stronger positive contribution of the non-durable consumption component and a less positive contribution of durable consumption. The Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) indicator decelerated in November, after a slight increase in the previous month, due to a less positive contribution of the machinery and equipment and construction components, since the transportation material component increased its positive contribution. In nominal terms, the exports and imports of goods presented year-on-year growth rates of 10.2% and 13.2% in November, respectively (10.5% and 14.1% in October).
In November, considering the economic activity from the production perspective, there was a deceleration of the services and industry turnover indexes and of the production indexes in both industry and construction.
According to the provisional monthly estimates of the Labour Force Survey, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (15 to 74 years old) was 8.2% in November, 0.2 p.p. below the definitive rate of the previous month (8.7% three months ago and 10.5% in November 2016). In the same month, the estimate for employed population (15 to 74 years old), also seasonally adjusted, registered a year-on-year growth rate of 3.5% (3.2% in October) and an increase of 0.3% comparing with the previous month.
In 2017, the annual average rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 1.4% (0.6% in 2016). The annual average rate of the Portuguese Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) in 2016 was 0.1 percentage points higher than the EA HICP average rate (in 2016 this difference was 0.4 percentage points).The year-on-year change rate of the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 1.5% in December (same as in the previous month), with a 1.0% growth rate in the goods component (1.3% in the previous month) and a 2.1% change rate in the services component (1.9% in November).