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Information already available for August points to a less intense decrease in economic activity
Monthly Economic Survey
Information already available for August points to a less intense decrease in economic activity - August 2020
17 September 2020

Summary

In August, the consumer confidence and economic sentiment indicators increased in the Euro Area (EA), slightly in the former case. In the same month, the prices of raw materials and oil presented monthly growth rates of 7.6% and 0.3%, respectively (4.6% and 5.4% in July).
In Portugal, not considering three-months moving average (see next section), economic activity is showing significant reductions but progressively less intense between June and August. The consumer confidence indicator increased in August, after decreasing in the previous month and economic climate indicator continued to recover in August, as in the three previous months, from the strong reductions in April. Confidence indicators increased in all activity sectors, more intensely in Services and in Trade, also recovering in Construction and Public Works and in Manufacturing Industry.
The overall amount of national withdrawals, payment of services and purchases at automatic payment terminals carried out on the automatic teller machines of the Multibanco network decreased by 8.1% in August, on year-on-year terms, after decreasing 9.7% in July. The information regarding motor vehicles sales registered rates of change of -0.1%, -40.5% and -7.2% for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and heavy duty vehicles (-17.6%, -19.4% and 67.3% in July, respectively).
According to the provisional monthly estimates of the Employment Survey, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (15 to 74 years) was 8.1% in July, 0.8 percentage points above the definitive rate observed in June (6.3% in April and 6.5% in July 2019). The provisional estimate of labour underutilisation rate was 15.7%, increasing 0.2 percentage points from the rate of the previous month (12.9% in the same month of 2019). Employed population (15 to 74 years), also seasonally adjusted, decreased 3.5% in year-on-year terms but increased 0.1% when compared to the previous month (year-on-year rate of change of -3.4% in June).
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) presented a null year-on-year rate of change in August (rate of change of 0.1% in July), with a -0.1% rate of change in the goods component (-0.2% in the previous month) and 0.1% in the services component (0.6% in July).

Despite the circumstances determined by the pandemic COVID-19, Statistics Portugal calls for the best collaboration by companies, families and public entities in responding to Statistics Portugal’s data requests. The quality of official statistics, particularly its ability to identify the impacts of the pandemic COVID-19, crucially depends on this collaboration, which Statistics Portugal thanks in advance.


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