Since 2016, with the exception of the year of the pandemic (2020, when the Stability Pact rules for deficits and debts were suspended), the Socialist government (PS) has managed to make a full sprint, a final sprint in the last months of the crisis. throughout the year in reducing the national debt.
With this, the three finance ministers who served in the three governments of António Costa (Mário Centeno, João Leão and Fernando Medina) managed to achieve an annual debt ratio lower than what was assumed as the budget target, which the markets, creditors and international positively surprised raters. , as evidenced by the most recent actions and sympathetic comments from entities such as the European Commission or the various rating agencies. And now, in 2023, it is clear that this race to reduce debt will be no exception.
According to information collected by Dinheiro Vivo, only a sprint is needed to reduce the total national debt by 5.4 billion euros in the last two months of this year and the target of 100% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2023 can be achieved be achieved easily. to be reached, to be touched.
The nominal GDP considered here is the value of 265 billion euros estimated by Brussels 15 days ago.
The government’s official target (see the 2024 budget presented in October) is to reach 103% of GDP by 2023, but there are encouraging signs that this could be much less.
This week, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) announced that debt fell sharply (monthly and year-on-year) at the end of October, to 270,422 million euros. If EC GDP is right, this equates to a debt ratio of 102%.
Between 2022 and 2023, according to government figures, the country had already fallen from third to sixth place in the ranking of the most indebted countries in Europe (where it remained for a long time, since the Troika).
According to a comparison based on Commission data, Greece, Italy, France, Spain and Belgium are, in this order, ahead of Portugal.
The fact that Portugal still has a very high debt, but is quickly approaching the symbolic 100 percent limit, has prompted praise and incentives. One of the most active institutions in this area has been precisely the European Commission.
A few days ago, Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for the Economy, did not hesitate and said with regard to the public debt ratio: “although we have small differences [em relação aos números do governo]I hope we’re wrong because I like this goal of getting to minus… can I just say this? [risos]… to less than 100% of GDP, which is the value that the Portuguese authorities have in their plans and that we in the EC also have, but in the case of the Portuguese projection this target is achieved before 2025, while in Our I estimate that this will happen in 2025.”
Source: DN
