The Portuguese economy showed an external surplus of €2,100 million in the first half of the year, compared to a deficit of €2,900 million in the same period, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) announced on Monday.
According to balance of payments data published by the banking regulator, this evolution reflects the decrease in the goods balance deficit of EUR 531 million, as exports grew faster than imports (EUR 1,223 million and EUR 692 million, or 3.3% and respectively 1.4%), as well as the increase in the surplus on the services balance of 3,808 million euros, with the evolution of the travel and tourism balance justifying more than half of the variation with an increase of 1,942 million euros.
In addition, it also reflects the increase in the capital account surplus, by €725 million, mainly due to the greater receipt of investment aid and the greater transfer of carbon licenses.
According to the BdP, the financing capacity of the Portuguese economy in the first half of the year resulted in a balance of the financial balance of EUR 2,849 million, reflecting the increase in external assets of EUR 6,690 million, due to investments by public administrations and of banks in securities issued by non-residents (2,863 million euros and 945 million euros, respectively), and also the increase in loans granted by companies to non-resident entities (2,339 million euros).
It also reflects the increase in liabilities of EUR 3,841 million, mainly due to the increase in deposits of non-residents with national banks (EUR 8,157 million), which was partially offset by the reduction in the external liabilities of the central bank (-5,805 million euros). millions of euros).
The BdP detailed that the sectors that contributed most to the positive change in Portugal’s net assets relative to the rest of the world were the central bank (€6,981 million), government (€4,417 million) and non-monetary financial settings were. institutions (1,578 million euros).
The country’s international investment position went from -84.7% of annual GDP (-202,700 million euros) at the end of 2022 to -77.6% of GDP (-195,600 million euros) at the end of June 2023, which is the least negative ratio of the international investment position since the third quarter of 2006.
Net external debt has been reduced from 67.6% of GDP (161,600 million euros) at the end of 2022 to 61.4% (154,700 million euros) in the second quarter of 2023, in the case of the lowest ratio since June 2007.
In an analysis of the month of June, the balance of the current account and the capital account amounted to 1,600 million euros, which corresponds to an increase of 1,100 million euros compared to the same month of 2022, which translates into an increase of 1,064 million euros annually on an annual basis, as a result of the EUR 265 million reduction in the goods balance deficit to EUR 1,912 million.
Compared to the same month of 2022, this decrease was due to a decrease in imports of EUR 510 million (5.6%) and exports of EUR 246 million (3.6%) due to the increase in the surplus on the services balance , from 800 million euros to 2,574 million euros.
Exports and imports of services increased by 22.3% and 1.9% respectively compared to June 2022, mainly due to the contribution of travel and tourism (+297 million euros) and transport services (+214 million euros).
Travel and tourism exports totaled 2,111 million euros, the highest value in the range for a month of June.
Source: DN
