The war in Ukraine has accentuated the upward trend in inflation in Portugal, which reached a rate of 5.3% in March: the highest value recorded since 1994.
The data, still preliminary, were released this Thursday (31) by the INE (National Statistics Institute) and are compared to the same period of the previous year.
The rise in prices in the country was mainly driven by the rise in energy prices, which rose 19.8%, and food goods, with inflation of 5.9%.
Both sectors are directly affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Despite the result, inflation in Portugal is still below that recorded in other European countries.
Figures released last Wednesday (30) show that Spain had an inflation of 9.8%, and Germany, of 7.3%.
Since the beginning of the war, several associations in the agricultural and retail sector in Portugal have warned of a possible wave of price increases for foodstuffs.
A Portuguese tradition, bread is one of the items in which an increase is already expected. Before the war, wheat flour, the main ingredient in the recipe, had already accumulated more than a 30% increase in 12 months.
The increase in corn prices in the international market, on the other hand, should weigh especially on livestock and poultry in the country. Portugal had in Ukraine the biggest supplier of this cereal, which is raw material for animal feed.
In recent weeks, Portuguese authorities have been looking for ways to lessen the impacts of rising fuel prices.
Among the main measures adopted are the reduction of the tax on petroleum products and the increase in the monthly subsidy that the government has been offering to drivers.
At the beginning of the month, when fuel prices began to rise, the monthly value of the so-called Auto Voucher, in force since November 2021, quadrupled: from 5 euros (R$ 26.26) to 20 euros (R$ 105) .
