The short-term indicators for economic activity from the perspective of production, available for August, point out to decreases in industry, a deceleration in real terms in construction and in nominal terms in services. From the expenditure side, the economic activity and private consumption indicators accelerated in year-on-year terms in August, while the Gross Fixed Capital Formation indicator shifted to a negative rate. The economic climate indicator, which summarizes the balances of responses to questions relating to business surveys, increased in September, attaining a new maximum since April 2023.
The industrial production price index reached a year-on-year rate of change of 0.9% in September, decelerating from the increase of 2,0% in the previous month. The rate of change in the grouping of Energy was -3.4%, after being 1.5% in the preceding month. Excluding the energy component, this index registered a rate of change of 1.9% (2.1% in the previous month), and the index for consumer goods recorded a year-on-year growth rate of 3.3% in September (3.4% in August).
The year-on-year rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 2.1% in September, 0.2 percentage points higher than in the previous month. The annual rate of change for energy products decreased to -3.5% (-1.5% in August), mainly as a combination of the monthly decrease in Fuels and lubricants (-1.0%) with the base effect of the increase registered in September 2023 (3.2%). The estimated rate for unprocessed food was 0.8% (the same value as in the previous month).
On the external side, the implicit prices of exports and imports of goods, in August, registered year-on-year rates of change of 0.2% and -3.9%, respectively (0.5% and -2.1% in July).
In August, according to the provisional monthly Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, stood at 6.4%, 0.1 percentage points less than in July (6.4% in May and in August 2023). The labour underutilization rate (16 to 74 years old) was 10.9%, 0.1 percentage points below the value recorded in July (10.9% in May and 11.6% in the same period of the previous year).
The employed population (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, increased by 0.9% in year-on-year terms and 0.2% compared to the previous month (year-on-year rate of change of 0.8% in July).