In May, the indicators of consumer confidence and economic sentiment increased in the Euro Area (EA). In the same month, the price of oil and raw-materials presented monthly growth rates of 0.5% and -6.7%, respectively (-2.3% and 1.0% in April).
In Portugal, the economic activity indicator stabilized in April, after increasing in the previous month. The economic climate indicator continued, in May, the ascending movement that has been observed since the beginning of the year. The quantitative indicator of private consumption increased in April, reflecting the acceleration of non-durable consumption. In the same month, the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) indicator accelerated, extending the marked ascending path initiated in June 2016, driven by a larger positive contribution from the transport material component. In nominal terms, exports and imports of goods presented year-on-year growth rates of 11.1% and 11.8% in April, respectively (17.1% and 15.4% in March). The economic activity from the production perspective slowed down in April, since the industry and services turnover indexes, as well as the industrial production and construction indexes decelerated when comparing to same period of last year. It should be mentioned that the behavior of some indicators may be influenced by calendar effects (more two working days in the year ended in March and less two working in April, compared to the same periods of the previous year).
In April, the monthly provisional estimate of unemployment rate (ages 15 to 74), seasonally adjusted, remained unchanged at 9.8% when comparing to the definitive value for the previous month (rates of 10.1% in January and 11.6% in April of 2016). The seasonally adjusted estimation of the employed population (ages 15 to 74), presented a year-on-year growth rate of 2.9%, slowing down from the previous month (rate of 3.5%), and a monthly reduction of 0.1% (growth of 0.4% in March).
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) presented a year-on-year growth rate of 1.5% in May (2.0% in April), with a change rate of 1.0% in the goods component (1.1% in the previous month) and 2.1% in the services component (3.3% in April).