The winds that will reach Portugal from abroad next year will remain turbulent. From inflation to rising interest rates, including war, the Portuguese economy will continue to suffer the consequences of the international situation. The Minister of Finance therefore believes that the proposal for the 2024 state budget (OE2024) is “very realistic” and aimed at “coping with the circumstances”.
For this reason, he believes it is a priority to “secure domestic demand.” “The external situation will be more difficult. Yet we will grow less than this year. These measures[inscritas no OE2024 ]are intended to strengthen household incomes to help the economy,” he assured in an interview with SIC yesterday. Early in the evening, and after more than two and a half hours of presenting the document at the Ministry of Finance, Medina argued that the country “cannot free itself from the rigor of public accounts” and that the economy, despite the slowdown, is growing . Regarding the reduction in IRS rates, which cover only the first five brackets, the government official explained: “This was the balance” defined by the government, but admitted that there would be room to take another step. “We could have gone further from the point of view of the levels and the people covered, but this is at the expense of other measures,” he said. Medina he explained that this was the budget of “choices” and that therefore there were measures with a positive impact on families, but others not so much.
An example is the increase in the tax burden on indirect taxes, which will increase and weigh more heavily on the pockets of the Portuguese. “We have to make choices. The balance is not taking action without thinking there is no tomorrow. We must have our accounts in order and have a positive balance. We have concentrated the effort to reduce VAT on, for example, the most deprived families. is a political choice,” illustrated. With European, local and parliamentary elections on the horizon – 2024, 2025 and 2026 respectively – Medina guaranteed that this was not an election budget. “I am not, strictly speaking, a candidate,” he assured.
Rute SIMão is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
