European Commission upgrades forecast for 2023 GDP growth to 2.4%
In its spring economic forecasts, the European Union executive also projects a reduction in Portugal's deficit from 0.4% of GDP at the end of last year to 0.1% at the end of this.
The European Commission on Monday revised upwards its projection for growth in Portugal’s gross domestic product this year, to 2.4%, the third-highest rate in the euro zone and more optimistic than the government’s current official forecast.
In its spring economic forecasts, the European Union executive cited strong growth in tourism in upgrading its projection for GDP growth from the previous 1.0% forecast released in February.
For 2024, it kept its unchanged growth projection unchanged, at 1.8%.
The new forecast for this year puts Portugal joint third with Greece in the euro zone in terms of GDP growth, only surpassed by Ireland (5.5%) and Malta (2.4%).
Public sector deficit of 0.1% of GDP
The European Commission now expects Portugal’s public sector budget deficit this year to shrink to 0.1% of gross domestic product, the best result in the euro zone except for the surpluses forecast for Ireland and Cyprus, and more optimistic than the country’s own government.
In its spring economic forecasts, the European Union executive projects a reduction in Portugal’s deficit from 0.4% of GDP at the end of last year to 0.1% at the end of this.
The projection foresees that Portugal will be the country with the smallest deficit in the euro zone this year, only surpassed by the surpluses projected for Ireland (1.7%) and Cyprus (1.8%).
In the EU as a whole, only Denmark is also expected to generate a budget surplus, of 2.3% of GDP.
