Business turnover rose 16%, gross value added 15% in 2021

  • Lusa
  • 27 February 2023

The figures, obtained from the Integrated Company Accounts System (SCIE), recall that in 2020, there had been declines of 10.2% in turnover, 9.1% in GVA, and 15.4% in GOS, respectively.

The Portuguese business sector in 2021 recorded nominal year-on-year growth of 15.9% in turnover, 15.4% in Gross Value Added (GVA) and 26.8% in Gross Operating Surplus (GOS), the National Statistics Institute (INE) revealed on Monday, in a release containing the final figures from its Statistics on Enterprises in Portugal for the year.

The figures, obtained from the Integrated Company Accounts System (SCIE), recall that in 2020, there had been declines of 10.2% in turnover, 9.1% in GVA, and 15.4% in GOS, respectively.

The release states that “the year 2021 was marked by a recovery in economic activity from the contraction observed in the previous year, as a result of the strong negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the nation’s economy.

“Indeed, in all sectors of activity, significant growths were recorded, particularly in terms of nominal variables, determining, in many cases, higher levels than those recorded in 2019,” it continues.

It also highlights that, in 2021, the increases in turnover, GVA and GOS exceeded those seen in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 by 4.2 percentage points, 4.8 points and +7.3 points, in the same order.

In terms of personnel in service and personnel expenses in 2021 these increased by 2.3% and 8.9%, respectively, contrasting with 2020 declines of 2% and 1.8%, respectively, and 20219 increases of 0.2% and 7.0%, in the same order.

In 2021, the Portuguese business sector was made up of 1,359,035 companies (up 3.3% on 2020 and up 1.8% on 2019), according to INE.

If only non-financial companies in Portugal are considered, these recorded year-on-year increases of 2.3% in personnel at work, 16% in turnover and 15.6% in GVA (whereas in 2020 the figures were -2.0%, -10.0% and -9.8%, respectively, and in 2019 they were +0.3%, +4.4% and +4.3%, in the same order).

As for personnel expenses and GOS of these companies, the release notes that they increased by 9.4% and 27.8%, respectively, against a drop of 1.7% and a contraction of17.2% in the previous year, in the same order, and increases of 7.5% and 5.8%, respectively, compared to 2019.

By sector of economic activity, the data released by INE show that hospitality on the one hand and transport and storage on the other recorded the highest GVA growths, of 40.9% and 23.5%, respectively, although this was not sufficient to recover to 2019 levels (with the indicators still down 35.1% and 18.4%, in the same order), given the “special severity” of the negative effects of the pandemic on these sectors in 2020.

In turn, the agriculture and fisheries sector showed the lowest GVA growth (9.1%), although still represented 7.9% growth on 2019.

INE also mentions that, in 2021, there were 468,746 non-financial companies in Portugal (+4.1% compared to 2020; +6.8% compared to 2019), which recorded growth of 2.9% in staff at work, 16.2% in turnover, 16.3% in GVA and 30.3% in EBE (-1.3%, -9.8%, -9.4% and -17.7%, respectively, in 2020; +1.5%, +4.8%, +5.3% and +7.2%, compared to 2019).

Large companies, in turn, showed higher growth in turnover and GVA (+18.7% and +18.5%, respectively), and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) recorded identical growth to large ones in EBE (+30.3%).

Apparent labour productivity was €31,500 per person employed, while average annual remuneration amounted to €16,100 per person employed.

INE also notes that financial companies in Portugal in 2021 showed increases of 12.9% in GVA and 15% in turnover (or 2.7 percentage points less and 1.0 less, respectively, than those recorded in non-financial companies). However, these companies have already recovered to pre-pandemic values with regard to turnover, GVA and GOS (up 0.1%, 10.1% and 17.4%, respectively, on 2019 figures) but were still below 2019 values with regard to staff in service and personnel expenses (-0.1% and -1.1%, in the same order).