Portugal's consumer confidence rate rises to highest level since 2002

Portugal's consumer confidence rate rose in November to its highest level since 2002, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE) on Thursday.
Consumer confidence reached -22.3 points in November, from -24.0 in October.
The rise in consumer confidence was thanks to a number of factors including unemployment and ability to save but especially due to the expectation on the slow recovery of the country's economy, the INE pointed out.
However, the country's economic climate indicator slipped for the first time in two years to 0.5 points from 0.7 pints in October.
Portugal's economic climate indicator turned positive in May when the country ended the 78-billion-euro (about 98 billion U.S. dollars) bailout program it signed in 2011 with the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.