The Consumer Price Index (CPI) annual rate increased to 7.2% in April 2022 (5.3% in March 2022), the highest rate recorded since March 1993. The annual core inflation rate, which excludes energy and unprocessed food products, also accelerated to 5.0% (3.8% in the previous month). The annual rate of change of the index for energy products increased to 26.7% (19.8% in March 2022), the highest value since May 1985, and the rate for unprocessed food was 9.4% (5.8% in the previous month).
The CPI monthly rate was 2.2% (2.5% in March 2022 and 0.4% in April 2021), while the CPI 12-month average rate was 2.8% (2.2% in the previous month).
In April 2022, the Portuguese Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) annual rate was 7.4%, once again the highest recorded value since the start of the HICP in 1996 (5.5% in the previous month). This rate is 0.1 percentage points (p.p.) below the figure estimated by Eurostat for the Euro area (in March, the Portuguese rate was 1.9 p.p. below the Euro area). Excluding energy and unprocessed food products, the Portuguese HICP increased by 5.3% in April (4.1% in March), above the corresponding rate for the Euro area (estimated at 3.9%).