Prime Minister António Costa defended on Wednesday that his government is “provisionally” winning “seven to zero” against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the growth forecasts of the Portuguese economy.
“It’s an old tradition. This is the eighth budget I present and I don’t remember a single one in which the forecasts, namely from the International Monetary Fund, do not differ from the forecasts we present,” said António Costa, concluding: “During I don’t want to guarantee these eight years, but I have to say we are seven to zero for now. We’ll see this year.”
The prime minister spoke to journalists in Viseu, where he is participating in an AICEP conference on “Exports & Investments”, about the forecasts presented by the IMF on Tuesday, which were less optimistic than those of the executive.
The fund slightly improved the growth outlook for the Portuguese economy this year to 6.2%, but lower it to 0.7% next year, which turns out to be more pessimistic than the government.
Last week, the Portuguese Prime Minister ruled out a “no growth and even less recession” scenario next year, expecting the economy to “continue to grow above the European average”.
“This year we are the country in the European Union with the highest growth, next year [haverá] recession in many European countries, and 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 of recession,” he stressed.
According to the Prime Minister, the economic scenario for 2023, on which the national budget will be based, is “of moderate growth, adapted to the realities of the time”, which is “based on a significant slowdown in inflation and, above all, a fundamental concern which is key to economic policy, namely the ability to maintain employment and to without fueling the inflation spiral, what are household incomes and corporate competitiveness”.
“After this year’s growth of well above 6% and the highest in the European Union, we will of course adjust our growth next year to the evolution of the eurozone. Therefore we will not have growth of this order, nothing of the kind, but it is a scenario where we can be confident that the country will continue to grow, continue to grow above the European average and move closer to the most developed countries in the European Union,” said Costa.
António Costa relies on the “honesty” with which members of the government perform functions
The prime minister, António Costa, on Wednesday assumed he has no doubts about the “fairness” of the way members of the government carry out their functions and says the executive does not interfere in the dialogues between the president and the government. Assembly of the Republic.
“There are no cases, and they do not raise any doubts, because the law is absolutely clear about them. At least two of them were there, there were opinions from the public prosecutor’s advisory board, so for my part I have no doubts about the sincerity of the way the members of my government have performed their functions,” said António Costa.
Thus, the prime minister responded to journalists, this Wednesday in Viseu, where he is participating in an AICEP conference on “Exports & Investments”, when asked about actions by members of the government that could raise doubts about the law of incompatibilities.
Asked about the request of the president of the republic for a review of the law, the prime minister said that “the government does not interfere in the dialogue between the president of the republic and the assembly of the republic”.
“It is a right enshrined in the Constitution, a power of the President of the Republic to send messages to the Assembly of the Republic and the Assembly of the Republic to value the messages,” said António Costa.
The prime minister added that “there are several… [as mensagens] over the years and the Assembly will,” stressing that “of course the government does not interfere in this dialogue between the President of the Republic and the Assembly of the Republic”.
As announced on Tuesday, the President of the Republic asked Parliament this Wednesday to review the legal regime on the incompatibilities and impediments of political office holders, if the Assembly of the Republic “deems such reflection relevant and necessary”.
“In fact, the complex legal tangle in Portuguese society has sparked great controversy, in a vital matter for citizens’ trust in institutions, resulting from a constitutional imposition, doubts expressed even by the agency’s advisory board of the Prosecutor General of the Republic,” justifies Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in a note published this Wednesday on the website of the Presidency of the Republic.
In Wednesday’s message to the Assembly of the Republic, the head of state begins by pointing out that the Constitution requires “the legislature to determine the duties, responsibilities and incompatibilities of political office holders, as well as the consequences of the respective non-compliance”.
On Tuesday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa defended in statements to journalists that this review should define “where to establish a regime that allays the fears of Portuguese society” with possible situations of “nepotism or excessive customer relations”.
In his opinion, the current law, which he has enacted, “does not restrict the participation of relatives or relatives of guardians at all levels in an unacceptable, unacceptable or unthinkable way”.
What now needs to be reconsidered “isn’t just the degree of kinship, it’s the degree of relationship between public bodies”, for example if, in view of incompatibilities, “different ministries of the same government” are to be treated “as if they were one” , orphan.
Source: DN
