The prime minister said on Thursday that the country will have a “life insurance policy” in 2023 to deal with the uncertainties facing the energy market and that it will guarantee a “safety net” for businesses and families.
“In 2023 we have a life insurance policy related to the rise in the extraordinary price of energy with the uncertainties that exist (…) What I mean by insurance is that even if the price of gas doubles in the coming year, the price increase will Don’t exceed 13%. This is the insurance we have. If it doesn’t double, it could actually decrease. If it doubles, it will be 13%,” said António Costa.
Speaking in Viana do Castelo, at a dinner promoted by SEDES – Association for the Economic and Social Development of Alto Minho, the prime minister said that the “safety net” created by the “so-called Iberian mechanism that caused the prices of the electricity produced from gas in Portugal and Spain was on average 17-18% below the price” at which they would be without that measure “is absolutely essential for companies to be able to continue to operate and operate with confidence and business plans that fit the degree of uncertainty” that the energy market is experiencing.
“Unfortunately we cannot declare the end of the war, we cannot declare peace in Ukraine, but what we can and must do is create better conditions for business to continue to function, to increase the level of activity, the level of employment and the level of household income,” he said.
For António Costa, the Iberian mechanism has made it possible to “reduce the impact of energy costs”, pointing to the examples of Italy and France “to properly understand the advantage Portuguese companies currently have”.
The Prime Minister also said he is “optimistic” about Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, stating that the target of “meeting the European Union (EU) average growth target and from there above the EU average is a beautiful idea that the country is worth fighting for.
“We have all the conditions to continue what has happened since 2016. First, we always grow above the European average. The goal of SEDES is to reach the European average by 2036. To reach the European average, which year it is, just there is a way. It is, every year we grow above that average. This is the only way we achieve it,” he said before dozens of guests, including businessmen, mayors and representatives of academic institutions and the Civil society.
He urged the country with “all together and united”, as during the covid-19 pandemic, but without incarceration or masks, to “seek this goal, because this goal is attainable”.
“Squaring the circle is not impossible. It’s just a matter of maintaining it and having the discipline to improve it, but not giving up when the policy works. Realizing that in a country, like in a municipality , or in a business between having the idea and the moment the idea becomes a reality, you have to persevere until it becomes reality, some are realized within six months, some within a year, others take ten years. to do is to give up. If the idea is good, it’s worth fighting for,” he admonished.
Source: DN
