Portugal Inflation Accelerates For Third Month To 7-month High

(RTTNews) - Portugal's consumer price inflation accelerated for a third straight month to its highest level in seven months in August, preliminary data from Statistics Portugal showed Monday.

The consumer price index rose 0.72 percent year-on-year following 0.61 percent in July. The figure was the strongest since January, when inflation was 0.78 percent.

In contrast, core inflation, which excludes fresh food and energy prices, slowed to 0.64 percent from 0.79 percent in the previous month.

Prices of fresh food rose 4.13 percent, which was faster than the 3.31 percent gain in the previous month. The pace of decline in energy prices slowed to 2.74 percent from 4.32 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, the CPI declined 0.22 percent after a 0.66 percent fall in July. Prices dropped for a second straight month.

The harmonized index of consumer prices, or HICP, rose 0.8 percent annually in August following 0.7 percent climb in each of the previous two months. Compared to the previous month, the HICP remained unchanged.