The end of zero VAT affects the price. The inflation rate rose to 2.3% in January

“The category with the largest positive contribution to the monthly average variance of the overall index was food and non-alcoholic beveragesWith a variation of 2.8% (-0.6% in the previous month and 1.9% in January 2023), reflecting the above-mentioned substitution of VAT on a range of basic food goods.” INE report. It is estimated that the effect of the end of the zero VAT measure on variation in the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 0.7 percentage points.

“This process, of a purely mechanical nature, consisted in applying the current VAT rates to the prices observed in December, making it possible to measure the price variation that would occur, keeping everything else constant, if the effect of the VAT reinstatement were changed.” Added. “It is transferred entirely at the price paid by consumers,” explains INE.

According to the National Institute of Statistics, the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages are 27.2% higher than the average price level for 2021.

The core inflation index (the overall index excluding unprocessed food and energy products) recorded a variation of 2.4% in January (2.6% in December).

The variance in the energy products index rose to 0.2% (-10.5% in the previous month) and the unprocessed food products index accelerated to 3.1% (2.0% in the previous month).

In monthly terms, the IPC showed zero variation in January (-0.4% in the previous month and -0.8% in January 2023).As for the average variance over the past 12 months, it decreased to 3.8% (4.3% in December), and excluding non-IPC food and energy products, the average variance rate was 4.6% (5.0% in the previous month) . Month).

The Portuguese Harmonized Consumer Price Index (HIPC) recorded a year-on-year variance of 2.5%, a value 0.6 percentage points higher than that recorded in December 2023 and 0.3 percentage points lower than the value estimated by Eurostat for the euro area (and in December 2023, this The difference is 1.0 percentage points).

Excluding unprocessed food and energy products, Portugal's CPI reached a year-on-year variance of 2.7% in January (3.1% in December), which is lower than the corresponding rate for the euro area (estimated at 3.6%).

Heavily indebted poor countries recorded a monthly variance of -0.2% (-0.7% in the previous month and -0.8% in January 2023) and an average variance over the last 12 months of 4.8% (5.3% in the previous month).