The annual inflation rate was 2.2% in April, 0.1 percentage points less than in March, according to the quick estimate released this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The underlying inflation indicator (total index excluding unprocessed food and energy products) recorded a variation of 2% in April, against 2.5% in the previous month.
In turn, the variation in the index relating to energy products increased to 7.9%, compared to 4.8% in the previous month, as a result of the base effect associated with the price reduction recorded in April 2023 (monthly variation of -3.2%).
Inflation in the euro zone stable at 2.4%
Annual inflation in the euro zone remained stable at 2.4% in April, compared to March, having slowed down compared to 7.0% in the same month, according to a quick estimate also released this Tuesday by Eurostat.
According to the flash estimate from the European Union’s statistics service, among the 20 countries in the euro area, the services component is the one that will have the highest inflation rate (3.7%, compared to 4.0% in March ).
In the food, alcohol and tobacco component, an inflation rate of 2.8% is expected, slightly above the 2.6% in March, in non-energy industrial products of 0.9% (1.1% in March) and in the energy component, the negative rate fell from -1.8% in March to -0.9% in April.
Underlying inflation – which excludes volatile components such as energy, food, alcohol and tobacco – slowed to 2.7% in April, which compares to 2.9% in March and 5.6% in April 2023.
Among the euro countries, the highest inflation rate (measured by the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, HICP) is seen in Belgium (4.9%), followed by Croatia (4.7%), Austria and Spain (3.4% each).
In Portugal, the inflation rate measured by the HIPC is expected to fall to 2.3%, compared to 2.6% in March and 6.9% in April 2023.
