The president of the republic defended on Wednesday (5) that “it is important for the Portuguese to know” that the government does not foresee a recession next year, nor that the war will have repercussions “with the magnitude and risk of other economies going bankrupt.” . by means of”. .
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was questioned by journalists, in La Valletta, before a bilateral meeting with his Polish counterpart, about the assurances left by the Prime Minister, António Costa, today: “It is important for the Portuguese to know, it is not for the President of the Republic to know. The most important for the Portuguese to know that the government predicts that there will be no recession after this period of growth, which next year is not expected, albeit more modestly.”
The head of state, who has argued in recent weeks that the government must present the macroeconomic scenario it envisions for 2023, also emphasized the guarantees that António Costa has given in two other plans.. “On the one hand the control of the budget deficit and on the other hand the expectation that the war, however long it lasts, will not have consequences that affect the lives of the Portuguese with the size and risk that other economies are going through,” he said. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who arrived in Malta today to participate on Thursday in the 17th meeting of the Arraiolos Group, which unites European Union heads of state with non-executive powers.
On Tuesday, at the end of a cycle of conferences on covid-19, at the headquarters of the União das Misericórdias Portuguesas, in Lisbon, the president of the republic asked to tell the truth about the consequences of the war in Ukraine and that measures exceptional during this period, as happened in the fight against the pandemic.
“That helped, it even helped the national spirit that was being created, overcoming barriers between sovereign bodies and between political, economic and social forces. I think in war it should be exactly the same,” added Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The prime minister today ruled out a scenario of “non-growth and even less of recession” next year, expecting the economy to “continue to grow above the European average”.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the ceremony commemorating the 112th anniversary of the Implantation of the Republic, in Praça do Município, in Lisbon, António Costa said Monday the government will present the state budget for the following year, which ” a Budget that is adapted to reality”.
“This year we are the country in the European Union with the highest growth, next year the recession in many European countries we are not necessarily immune and therefore Portugal will grow less than this year, but we will not have a scenario of non-growth and even less from recession,” he pointed out.
The head of government also said that the Finance Minister, Fernando Medina, will meet on Friday with “all parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic, as provided for in the opposition statute” and will be “first-hand with opposition parties” that the government will present the macroeconomic scenario and refuses to anticipate concrete data.
Source: DN
