From the start of the year there has been an upward trend, with the consumer price index, measured by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), showing an increase of 0.8% between January and February.

The same data show, however, that the trend was accentuated in the last month of this first quarter, up by 3.5% in March in comparison with January.

Some of the highest price increases have been seen in the cost of bread and cereals or meat (3.8%) or oils and fats (which rose 18.6% compared to January).

For milk, cheese and eggs, the price rise in that period was 3.3%, for fish, 2.6% and for vegetables, 2.2%.

“In three months, increases of around 3%, 4% is immense”, says Francisca Guedes de Oliveira, economist and professor at the Católica Porto Business School, noting the fact that these increases occur in an “ascending” context and in “products of necessity”.

Fuel prices

In the INE basket of products, the price of liquid fuels increased by 22.0% between January and March, an evolution also pointed out by the economist, taking into account the “transversal way” in which energy products affect everyone.

To these concerns, Francisca Guedes de Oliveira adds another, related to the uncertainty about how this situation will evolve with Russia and Ukraine and with any recession that may be foreseen.