Summary
In the Euro Area (EA) and in the European Union (EU27), the economic sentiment and the consumer confidence indicators maintained in December the upward movement observed in the previous months. The raw materials and the consumer prices accelerated in the EA.
In Portugal, the economic climate indicator slightly decreased in December, after stabilizing in the previous month, opposing the strong upward movement started in May. The economic activity indicator recovered in November, resuming the upward path observed since August. The private consumption indicator continued to increase slightly in November, due to the less negative contribution of the durable consumption component and to the tenuous acceleration of the non-durable consumption component. In the same month, the GFCF indicator decreased less intensely, driven by the positive evolution of all components. Concerning the external trade of goods, imports and exports continued to present strong nominal year-on-year reductions in November, although significantly less intense than the observed since the beginning of 2009, respectively -11.7% and -9.6% (-17.1% and -14.0% in October).
In December, the year-on-year change rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was -0.1%, 0.5 p.p. higher than in November. For 2009, the average annual inflation rate was -0.8%. In December, the CPI evolution reflected the less negative year-on-year change rate of the goods component, which shifted from -1.7% in November to -0.9% in December, and the slight acceleration of the prices in the  services component, that presented year-on-year growths of 1.2% and 1.3% in the same periods. The differential between the EA Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and the Portuguese HICP diminished 0.3 p.p. in December relatively to the previous month, to 1.0 p.p..