Portuguese 12-month inflation rate slowed down to 1.6% in November, after a 2.1% rate in the previous month, due to a drop in food prices, flash data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Thursday.

Still, core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices and is seen as a better gauge of the underlying trend, was at 2.9% year-on-year, after a reading of 3.5% in October.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.3% in November. (Reporting by Patrícia Vicente Rua; Editing by Inti Landauro)