Daniel Bessa: “Portugal would need 500 years to pay its debt”

  • ECO News
  • 13 October 2017

In an interview to Público, Daniel Bessa, former Economy minister, stated that with Portugal's current economic growth levels, he would be able to get "at least" a zero deficit.

The economist Daniel Bessa, former Economy minister for António Guterres‘ Executive, assures that he would “at least get a zero deficit” given the current level of economic growth for Portugal. In an interview to Público, he stated he believes the country is doing a “poor risk management” and that if he was in charge, he would take the one billion euros’ surplus and use it to reduce the deficit, even if that meant taxes couldn’t be lowered and pensions couldn’t be increased.

Daniel Bessa believes the high Portuguese public debt is “a bomb ready to be detonated”, which concerns him: “This country did a poor risk management. It accumulated excess debt, and one day things got out of hand and debt fell over us”, he stated. Therefore, if he was Economy minister, he says he would take the one billion euros’ surplus and fully apply it for reducing debt. “With this economy’s growth, I would at least get a zero deficit. More than that, instead of zero I would propose a 0.5% surplus”, he added.

Daniel Bessa also said: “Portugal has a great debt issue, and that almost killed the country. I would like to tell the Portuguese that any small sign that we are willing to solve that problem would be extremely rewarding”. He then said: “Lets forget about the one billion. We’ll stick with 500 million per year. Do you know how many years it takes? We would need 500 years to pay our debt. It’s not a lot; just a small signal”.

"With this economy’s growth, I would at least get a zero deficit. More than that, instead of zero I would propose a 0.5% surplus.”

Daniel Bessa

When asked whether or not the Portuguese economy’s growth was sustainable, Daniel Bessa highlighted the role of tourism: “Whether we like it or not, in terms of volume, tourism has been one of the main contributors to the Portuguese economy”. He then concluded: “What surprises me is that now that tourism is thriving, people are worried and complained it is too much. I honestly believe we can never have too much tourism; what we can have is too little capacity to answer that sector’s demand”.