The economic sentiment indicator (ESI) slightly increased in March in the Euro Area (EA), after having decreased in the last two months. The prices of raw-materials and oil presented monthly rates of change of 0.4% and 1.6%, respectively (0.3% and 5.2% in February).

The Portuguese industrial production price index registered a year on-year rate of change of -1,4% in March (after -2.5% in February), presenting a negative rate of change for the eleventh consecutive month. The grouping of Energy registered a rate of 0,7%, positive for the first time since December 2022. Excluding the energy component, this index decreased by 1,9% in February (-2.4% in the previous month), and the index for consumer goods recorded a year-on-year growth rate of 2.7% in March (2.8% in February), extending the deceleration profile observed since the beginning of 2023.

The year-on-year rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.3% in March, 0.2 percentage points more than in the previous month. 

On the external side, the implicit prices of exports and imports of goods continued to record negative rates of change, -3.9% in exports and -6.0% in imports (-3.5% and -6.5%, respectively, in January). Excluding petroleum products, there were decreases of 2.9% in exports and 5.6% in imports (-2.8% and -4.7%, respectively, in January).

The short-term indicators, available for February, reveal an acceleration in volume in construction and in nominal terms in services, and to an increase in volume and nominal decrease in industry. The economic climate indicator, which summarizes the balances of responses to questions relating to business surveys, increased in March, after having decreased in February. From the expenditure side, the economic activity indicator increased in year-on-year terms between September and February, more intensely in the last month, after decreasing in August. The investment indicator decreased, in year-on-year terms, in February, and the private consumption indicator accelerated.

According to the provisional monthly Labour Force Survey, in February, the unemployment rate (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, was 6.7%, 0.1 percentage points more than in January (6.6% in November). The labour underutilization rate (16 to 74 years old) stood at 11.5%, 0.1 percentage points below the value recorded in January (11.7% in November and 12.1% in the same period of the previous year). The employed population (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, increased by 1.9% in year-on-year terms and decreased 0.1% compared with the previous month (year-on-year rate of change of 2.3% in January).