The Banco de Portugal collects and compiles monetary, financial, exchange rate and balance of payments statistics, particularly in cooperation with the European Central Bank (ECB) (Article 13 of the Statute of the Banco de Portugal).

The Law governing the National Statistical System (Law No 22/2008, of 13 May 2008, in Portuguese only) recognises the Banco de Portugal as a statistical authority and, as such, the Bank is part of the National Statistical System, without prejudice to the guarantees of independence arising from its participation in the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Within the scope of the National Statistical System, the Banco de Portugal releases plans and reports on its statistical activities (in Portuguese only).

Statistics produced by the Banco de Portugal are:

• used to perform its tasks, and particularly relevant to prepare research and forecasts for the Portuguese economy;

• reported to international bodies, in particular the European Central Bank, within the scope of its statistical commitments;

• disclosed to the public, through BPstat.

Quality policy

The statistics compiled and published by the Banco de Portugal comply with the guidelines and quality management standards set out in national and international reference documents and manuals, namely the “ESBC commitment” and the “European Statistics Code of Practice”. They are therefore transparent, reliable, consistent and free of charge.

BPstat features a set of methodological documentation from which it is it possible to access all information on the various stages of the statistical compilation process: collection, processing, use and dissemination of information. 

The Bank updates statistics in line with the calendar published at the beginning of each year in BPstat. 

Anyone can also ask to access information that is not published in BPstat, by writing to the Banco de Portugal at [email protected]. These requests are then examined to assess whether the information requested meets the confidentiality criteria which official statistics are subject to and depending on what they will be used for.

Banco de Portugal’s statistics are regularly revised in line with its revision policy

To ensure the transparency and consistency of statistical information, the Banco de Portugal has set out a revision policy of its statistics.

The revision of previously published statistics is confined to actual value-added situations of statistical significance. In the case of major revisions to previously released output, the Banco de Portugal explains the key changes.

Occasionally, there are also major methodological changes, which are duly and promptly disclosed in BPstat.