Finance Minister Fernando Medina took office in March and achieved his first budget surplus in the period from April to June (second quarter), valued at 1.9% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to Dinheiro Vivo’s accounts based on new data released yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
This makes the balance for the first half of the year a surplus of 0.8%. It is necessary to go back to the time of Mário Centeno in Finance to find a positive semi-annual value in the balance of the public accounts.
After a small deficit at the beginning of the year (-0.4% of GDP), the surplus for the three months ending in June appeared as a result of the inflation wave and the acceleration of certain parts of the Portuguese economy, such as tourism , which continues to record overwhelming numbers despite the crisis.
This quarterly surplus, the sixth in the country’s recent history, was instrumental in achieving a positive balance of the order of 0.8% of GDP in the first half of the year.
It is the first time since 1999 that national public finances recorded a surplus in the first half of the year.
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Source: DN
