Portugal's GDP Growth Improves As Estimated, Inflation Rises Slightly

(RTTNews) - Portugal's economy expanded at a faster pace in the third quarter, as initially estimated, the latest data from Statistics Portugal showed on Friday.

Separate official data revealed that consumer price inflation rose marginally in November.

Gross domestic product, or GDP, advanced 1.9 percent year-on-year in the September quarter, after a 1.6 percent growth in the June quarter.

On a quarterly basis, GDP advanced at a steady pace of 0.2 percent in the third quarter, as estimated.

The yearly growth in domestic demand improved somewhat from 2.5 percent to 2.6 percent with an acceleration in private consumption and a reduction in investment, the agency said. Meanwhile, net external demand showed a negative contribution of 0.8 percent.

Consumer price inflation rose to 2.5 percent in November from 2.3 percent in the preceding month, flash data showed.

The upward trend in inflation was largely driven by a 2.1 percent rise in costs for energy products. Meanwhile, the annual price growth in unprocessed food products eased to 1.9 percent from 2.1 percent in October.

The core inflation, which excludes energy and unprocessed food products, remained stable at 2.6 percent.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.2 percent in November, reversing a 0.1 percent increase in the previous month.

EU-harmonized inflation rose to 2.7 percent from 2.6 percent in October.