Portugal GDP Growth Slows As Estimated, Inflation Rises

(RTTNews) - Portugal's economic growth eased as initially estimated in the first quarter, while flash consumer price inflation rose somewhat in May, separate reports from Statistics Portugal showed on Friday.

Gross domestic product, or GDP, advanced 1.6 percent year-on-year in the March quarter, slower than the 2.8 percent rise in the fourth quarter. That was in line with the flash data published on May 2.

The annual growth in domestic demand moderated slightly to 3.5 percent in the March quarter from 3.6 percent in the previous three-month period. The decline was due to a slower increase in private consumption, which grew 3.3 percent compared to 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

External demand continued to contribute negatively by 2.0 percent as imports grew faster than exports.

Meanwhile, growth in investments accelerated sharply to 6.0 percent from 1.5 percent. Data showed that public consumption was 1.3 percent higher.

On a quarterly basis, the economy contracted 0.5 percent in the first quarter, reversing a 1.4 percent growth in the previous quarter, as estimated.

Consumer price inflation in Portugal rose to 2.3 percent in May from 2.1 percent in April. Prices for energy products rebounded 0.1 percent, and inflation based in unprocessed food accelerated to 4.1 percent from 3.3 percent.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices moved up 0.4 percent after rising 0.7 percent in April.

The EU measure of inflation moderated to 1.7 percent in May from 2.1 percent in April.