Miguel A. Lopes / Lusa
Portugal’s financial situation is balanced. But the challenges are great, warns the prime minister. Marcelo doesn’t know what Trump wants.
O BANCO DE PORTUGAL anticipates a return to negative budget balances this year, having aggravated the forecast of the deficit of 2026 for 1,3% Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Economic Bulletin last Friday contrary the forecast of Government, which points to surplus of 0.3% this year and 0.1% in 2026.
But Luís Montenegro is not worried. In Germany, on the sidelines of a meeting with the Portuguese community in Stuttar, he insisted that “Portugal’s economic situation is good, Portugal’s financial situation is balanced”Although admitting that” the challenges are great. “
“We have a Europe with several embarrassment, notably because its main economic engine, which is precisely Germany, is today with its economy contracted. But we hope that Germany will turn around and that we can build a lasting, solid economic growth cycle that can then reverberate in all member states,” he said.
Prime Minister reiterated that Portugal is up to do what “competed” and “take advantage of every opportunity”, noting that, “creating more wealth, It is possible to counteract these predictions that see some less positive signs. ”
“It’s not the first time. Already last year, Banco de Portugal was more pessimistic than the government and we arrived at the end of the year and the goal of the economy exceeded the expectations of all, including ours, from the government; The budget balance exceeded all expectations of all institutions, including from the government itself; And we were, within the OECD, the country that had the largest increase in net income in workers, ”he said.
“This wants to say that we are immune to what are uncertainties today in Europe and in the world? Of course we are not. Want this to say that there is not much work to do? There is a lot of work to do. We are optimistic, we are realistic, we have our feet very based on the floor, ”he concluded.
Marcelo and Trump
By your side, MARCELO REBELO DE SOUSA He highlighted the “external conditionalism, which changed not only politics, but changed the economy”, referring in particular to the entry of functions of the new US administration led by Donald Trump and the ” which began with the imposition of tariffs.
“But what more disturbs the world economy nor is it the level of tariffs, it is the unpredictability. This indecision Created that has happened in the last five months at the American position level has hit European countries, ”he said, reinforcing that there are things that it is impossible to control.
“No one knows what is President Trump’s next idea Regarding Europe, you don’t even know when it is and how it is. And in the meantime, this requires a double effort of European governments, ”he said.
Defense does not move social services
Luís Montenegro said the announced increase in investment in Defense, to reach the 2% do PIB, does not imply a rectification budget and will not be done at the expense of social services.
“It does not imply any rectification budget, I leave it today very clear. We will do it according to the availability that are in the Ministry of Finance and we intend to approve a state budget that also includes this path,” he said.
The Prime Minister, who, on Thursday, in his inauguration speech, announced that Portugal will anticipate the goal of achieving 2% of GDP investment in defense “if possible this year,” said his government today reiterated today will not “remove the effort from the expense side with social services”nor “to question the balance of public accounts”.
“We will manage the country from a financial point of view in order to reconcile all these interests,” he said.
