Consumer prices in Portugal continued to rise in October by 10.1% in a year, the largest increase since May 1992, the National Statistics Institute (Ine) announced on Friday. Thus, inflation continued to rise in October, after rising 9.3% annually in September and 8.9% in August.
It is mainly explained by the increase in energy prices, which jumped 27.6% last month, after 22.2% in September. Natural gas prices soared 151.8% year-on-year, compared with a 47.8% rise in September, the statistics office said.
The prices of unprocessed food products also continued to rise in October, by 18.9% per year, “the biggest rise since June 1990”, underlines the Ine.
An anti-inflation endowment of 5,600 million euros
In one month, prices increased by 1.2%, identical to the previous month. The harmonized price index, which allows comparison with other countries in the euro zone, rose by 10.6% year-on-year, compared to 9.8% in September. Like other European countries, Portugal unveiled in September a set of measures to tackle inflation aimed at households and businesses, totaling 5.6 billion euros.
In its draft budget for 2023, the Portuguese Government forecasts inflation of 7.4% in 2022 and 4% in 2023. More pessimistic, the European Commission forecasts inflation for Portugal of 8% this year and 5.8% the next, according to its economic forecasts unveiled on Friday, marked by a sharp increase in expected inflation in the euro zone for 2022 (8.5%) and 2023 (6.1%).
Source: BFM TV
