The official EU statistics office confirms the quick estimate released at the beginning of the month, which already pointed to a record inflation rate in the single currency space in January, of 5.1%, the highest since the beginning of the series, in 1997, which contrasts with the rate of 0.9% recorded a year earlier, in January 2021, and 5.0% in December of last year.

In the 27 Member States of the Union, the year-on-year inflation rate of 5.6% in the first month of the year is also a new maximum, which compares with the 1.2% observed a year earlier, and 5.3% in December 2021.

Eurostat points out that the lowest annual rates in January were observed in France (3.3%), Portugal (3.4%) and Sweden (3.9%), while the highest were recorded in Lithuania (12.3 %), Estonia (11.0%) and the Czech Republic (8.8%).

The upward trend in prices has continued since the second half of 2021, driven by the energy sector, where the inflation rate rose by 2.80 percentage points in January.

In its winter macroeconomic forecasts, published on February 10, the European Commission revised up the inflation rate for Portugal by 0.6 percentage points to 2.3% this year, but below the 3.5% forecast for the eurozone.

According to interim winter forecasts, the inflation rate in Portugal is expected to rise from 0.9% in 2021 to 2.3% this year, before moderating to 1.3%.

This data compares with forecasts for the eurozone, with the community executive projecting a peak of 3.5% this year, retreating to 1.7% in 2023.