In May, the consumer confidence indicator stabilized in the Euro Area (EA) and the economic sentiment indicator decreased. In the same month, the raw materials and oil prices presented monthly change rates of 1.6% and 10.9%, respectively (0.9% and 9.8% in April).
In Portugal, the economic activity indicator, available until April, and the economic climate indicator, already available for May, increased. The quantitative indicator of private consumption increased in April, due to the more intense positive contribution of the durable and non-durable consumption components. In the same month, the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) indicator decelerated, reflecting the less intense negative contribution of all components, machinery and equipment, construction and transport material, the latter case with the most intense slowdown. In nominal terms, exports and imports recorded year-on-year change rates of 5.2% and 7.1% in April, respectively (2.9% and 6.6% in March). Considering the economic activity from the production perspective, the production indexes in industry and in construction accelerated in April, as well as the turnover index in industry, while the turnover index in services decelerated.
In April, the monthly estimate for the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (15 to 74 years) was 7.4% (0.1 p.p. below the definitive rate of the previous month), which compares with rates of 7.9% and 9.5% three months ago and one year ago, respectively. The estimate of employment (15 to 74 years), seasonally adjusted, registered a year-on-year growth rate of 2.1% (2.7% in March) and a decrease of 0.2% comparing with the previous month.
The year-on-year change rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 1.0% in May (0.4% in April), with a 0.6% change rate in the goods component (0.3% in the previous month) and 1.7% in the services component (0.6% in the previous month).