Portugal registers a external surplus of €256M in the first seven months of 2021

Between January and July this year, the Portuguese economy showed a lending capacity of €256 million, that is, it had an external surplus. According to the Bank of Portugal (BoP), this figure is explained by the €1,100 million reimbursement that the country received in July, related to the pre-payed margins disbursed in 2011 due to the Economic and Financial Assistance Program.

“Up to July 2021, the Portuguese economy had an external surplus of €256 million, €1,231 million more than in the same period one year earlier,” reads the statistical information note released by the central bank.

In July 2021, the government’s coffers got fuller. Portugal received around €1,100 million from the European Financial Stability Facility, related to the reimbursement of the pre-payed financial margins disbursed in 2011 in the context of the Economic and Financial Assistance Program.

This repayment was essential to increase the capital account surplus and thus contributed to the country’s external surplus. In addition, there was also the contribution of emigrants’ remittances that increased by €22 million from July 2020, reaching €367 million in July 2021. Portuguese migrants in Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom continue to be those who send the most remittances.

The trade balance contributed negatively to the external balance’s evolution in this period, compared to the same period last year. This occurred because imports of goods and services grew more than exports. “It stands out the rise in the exports of the travel item (45.6%), which remained below pre-pandemic levels,” the central bank said.

The data will be updated again on October 20 with the figures for August.