Portugal Inflation Confirmed At 4-Month Low, Trade Deficit Narrows

(RTTNews) - Portugal's consumer price inflation moderated slightly as initially estimated in February to the lowest level in four months, the latest report from Statistics Portugal showed on Wednesday.

Separate official data showed that the trade deficit dropped in January as exports grew faster than imports.

Consumer price inflation eased to 2.4 percent in February from 2.5 percent in January. That was in line with the flash data published on February 28.

Core inflation that excludes energy and unprocessed food products also moderated to 2.5 percent in January from 2.7 percent in the prior month.

The annual price growth in energy products moderated to 1.5 percent from 2.4 percent. Meanwhile, costs for food products rose at a faster pace of 2.4 percent. Communication costs rose only 0.3 percent, which was 5.5 percent in January.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent versus a 0.5 percent decline in the previous month, as estimated.

The EU measure of inflation eased to 2.5 percent in February from 2.7 percent in the previous month. In the flash report, the rate of increase was 2.4 percent.

Another piece of data showed that Portugal's foreign trade deficit narrowed to EUR 1.698 billion in January from EUR 1.875 billion in the corresponding month last year. Exports showed an annual growth of 11.7 percent, and imports were 8.4 percent higher.