Summary
In March, the Euro Area (EA) and the European Union (EU) economic sentiment and consumer confidence indicators maintained the previous downward trends, attaining the lowest values of the series started in March 1995, although diminishing less intensely than in previous months.
In Portugal, the economic activity indicator strongly diminished in February. The economic climate indicator slightly decreased in March, after the pronounced downward movement of the previous months. The private consumption indicator recorded a significant deceleration in February, due to the negative contribution of both components, durable and non-durable consumption, stronger in the first case. The GFCF indicator prolonged in February the marked downward path observed since the beginning of 2008, driven by the decline registered in all components, but mainly in transport material. Concerning the international trade of goods, in the first two months of the year, imports and exports registered year-on-year nominal growth rates of -30.4% and -30.0%, respectively.
In March, the year-on-year monthly change rate of the Consumer Price Index was -0.4%, resuming the downward movement started in July 2008 (when the normal VAT rate was reduced 1.0 p.p.), mainly due to the strong year-on-year reduction of the "Transports" division, which might also be observed in the upcoming months. The differential between the EA Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and the Portuguese HICP increased 0.1 p.p. in March to 1.2 p.p..