Brussels calculates the growth of the Portuguese economy at 6.7 percent last year, and predicts that this year it will continue to grow, although only 1 percent. Next year, growth is expected to pick up slightly, with GDP expected to rise 1.8 percent.
Regarding inflation, the calculation of the European Commission is that last year the increase in consumer prices reached 8.1%, and should continue to increase in 2023, ending the year with inflation of 5.4 percent. . In the coming year, the inflation figures should already be close to the normal range, even so, standing at 2.6%. Inflation projections for Portugal are in line with the estimated average for the Eurozone.
Brussels outlines a positive scenario at the European level, noting that almost a year after the start of the war in Ukraine, the beginning of 2023 presents an economic situation “better than the autumn forecasts”.
In this mid-winter bulletin, growth prospects at the European level, for this year, stand at 0.8 percent in the EU. And, in euro zone terms, growth is slightly higher: 0.9 percent.
Specialists from the European Commission rule out the scenario of a technical recession, both for the euro zone and for the 27 countries as a whole, and assure that last year the economy grew by 3.5 percent. But they warn of the demanding conditions that European companies and consumers face with energy at high costs.
Even so, Brussels believes that consumer confidence indices continue to rise, boosting consumption, at a time when, with 6.1% last year, the unemployment rate in the European Union is historically low.
Source: TSF
