Statistics

Banco de Portugal is responsible, as part of its functions, for the collection and compilation of monetary, financial, foreign exchange and balance of payments statistics, particularly within the scope of its cooperation with the European Central Bank (ECB) (Article 13 of the Organic Law).

The Law on the National Statistical System (Law No 22/2008 of 13 May) acknowledges the capacity of Banco de Portugal as statistical authority, without prejudice to the guarantees of independence deriving from its participation in the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).

Banco de Portugal cooperates with the ECB in the collection of statistical data necessary for performing ESCB tasks.

Banco de Portugal statistics are:

• used internally within the scope of its different tasks, and are particularly relevant for the preparation of research, estimates and forecasts for the Portuguese economy;
• reported to international organisations, in particular the ECB, within the scope of the commitments made in the area of statistics; and,
• widely disseminated as public service, free of charge, via BPStat – Statistics online and in the monthly Statistical Bulletin, available on the Internet and in CD-Rom.

Banco de Portugal maintains high quality standards as regards the production and dissemination of statistics, which is a major factor behind the consolidation of user confidence in statistics. This is enshrined in the ESCB public commitment regarding its statistical task (May 2007) which is guided by the principles of impartiality, scientific independence, statistical confidentiality, adequate costs and prudence in the requests to reporting entities, as well as high quality standards in statistical production and dissemination.