The Consumer Price Index (CPI) annual rate increased to 5.3% in March 2022 (4.2% in February 2022). This is the highest recorded value since June 1994. The annual core inflation rate, which excludes energy and unprocessed food products, also accelerated to 3.8% (3.2% in the previous month). The annual rate of change of the index for energy products increased to 19.8% (15.0% in February 2022), the highest value since February 1991, and the rate for unprocessed food was 5.9% (3.7% in the previous month).  

The CPI monthly rate was 2.5% (0.4% in February 2022 and 1.4% in March 2021), while the CPI 12-month average rate was 2.2% (1.8% in the previous month). 

In March 2022, the Portuguese Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) annual rate was 5.5%, the highest recorded value since the start of the HICP in 1996 (4.4% in the previous month). This rate is 2.0 percentage points (p.p.) below the figure estimated by Eurostat for the Euro area (in February, the Portuguese rate was 1.5 p.p. below the Euro area), mainly reflecting significant differences in the prices of energy products, in particular electricity. In fact, excluding energy and unprocessed food products, the Portuguese HICP increased by 4.1% in March, above the corresponding rate for the Euro area (estimated at 3.2%).