The index for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels was up 2.4 percent and the prices of health care rose 2.0 percent. The average value of rents by net area for the whole country increased 0.3 percent. The most relevant increases were registered in the Lisbon region (0.6 percent) and in the Centro region (0.2 percent).
The biggest downward contributions came from clothing and footwear (down 3.5 percent), transports (down 3.4 percent) and furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (-0.5 percent).
The annual core inflation rate, measured by the CPI excluding energy and unprocessed food products, was 0.5 percent, an increase of 0.2 p.p. from the previous month. In May, the CPI monthly rate was 0.2 percent (0,0 percent in April 2013 and -0.4 percent in May 2012).