Portugal has the sixth largest growth in the Euro Area

  • ECO News
  • 16 May 2017

The Portuguese economy grew 2.8% in the first quarter of 2017. It was the sixth largest growth in the Euro Area countries, tied with the Netherlands.

The Portuguese economy had the sixth largest homologous growth in the first quarter of 2017, tied with the Netherlands. The percentages were disclosed this Tuesday by Eurostat. Only Greece had a GDP shrinkage.

During the first three months of 2017, the Portuguese GDP increased 2.8%, as disclosed by Statistics Portugal this Monday. This Tuesday, Eurostat shows the percentage sits well beyond the Euro Area average (1.7%) and the European Union average (2%). This is, in fact, the second consecutive quarter in which Portugal grows more than the Euro Area average.

Even so, there were five Euro countries which had a larger increase: Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus, Slovakia and Spain. The Spanish economy, Portugal’s main trade partner, had a 3% growth, the same percentage it had in the last quarter of 2016. As for Greece, it stands out for the worse reasons: it was the only EU country, from those who have data available, in which the economy contracted between January and March.

Euro Area growth

Percentages of the countries who have available data. Source: Eurostat.

Portugal is even better-placed when looking at the quarter-on-quarter growth — meaning, comparing this year’s first months with the last three months of 2016. Portugal was the fourth country of the Euro Area that grew the most: only Finland, Latvia and Lithuania had a faster pace. Considering this analysis, the Portuguese economy had twice the growth of the Euro Area and EU averages, which both had a 0.5% aggregate GDP increase.