EU commission cuts 2019 growth forecast to 1.7%; government sees 2.2%

  • Lusa
  • 7 February 2019

Although the government still expects GDP to grow by 2.2%, the European Commission seems to be less hopeful, cutting back to 1.7% its estimates for the Portuguese economic growth.

The European Commission on Thursday revised down its growth forecasts for Portugal’s economy this year, predicting a 1.7% expansion, less than the government’s official 2.2% forecast.

In its Winter 2019 Economic Forecast, released on Thursday, the European Union executive cut its growth projections for Portuguese gross domestic product to 1.7% from the previous forecast of 1.8% written into the Autumn 2018 Economic Forecast, which was released in November.

The commission is thus more pessimistic about the growth of the Portuguese economy in 2019 than the country’s government, which continues to project GDP growth of 2.2%.