"In May, the monthly coincident indicator for economic activity continued on the downward trajectory started in October 2017.

The monthly coincident indicator for private consumption decreased compared to the previous month," the central bank said.

The monthly coincident indicator for economic activity declined to 2.0%, compared to 2.1% in April, while the monthly coincident indicator for private consumption decreased from 2.2% in April to 2.0% in May.

According to the Bank of Portugal, coincident indicators are composite indicators that attempt to capture the underlying pattern of the year-on-year rate of of the corresponding macroeconomic aggregate.