Portugal’s net foreign debt fell to 76.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half, the lowest value since the end of 2008, totaling 170,000 million euros, the BdP announced on Friday.
As a result of the country’s International Investment Position (IIP), excluding capital instruments, bullion and financial derivatives, “it was reduced by 81.0% of GDP at the end of 2021 (171,100 million euros) to 76.8% (170,000 million euros) at the end of June 2022“, said the Bank of Portugal (BdP).
According to the entity, this is the lowest ratio seen since late 2008.
In June, the PPI, that is, the balance between foreign financial assets held by residents and liabilities issued by residents and held by the rest of the world, went from -96.1% of GDP (-203,100 million euros) to closing from 2021 to -93.1% of GDP (-206,100 million euros) at the end of June 2022.
The contrast between the evolution of the IIP, in nominal terms and as a percentage of GDP, was due to the growth of the national economy,” said the BdP.
The nominal change in the IIP was mainly due to the negative contribution of the devaluation of debt securities issued by non-residents held by the Portuguese financial sector, the devaluation of Portuguese public debt securities held by non-residents, the negative contribution of financial transactions (-2.2 billion euros), positive changes in the exchange rate of foreign assets held by residents, expressed mainly in US dollars and Angolan kwanzas (3.8 billion euros).
Of the 3.1 percentage point (pp) reduction in the negative ratio of the IIP to GDP, -1.3 pp resulted from the nominal change in the IIP and 4.4 pp from GDP growth, the BoP said.
The international investment position statistics will be updated by the BoP on November 18.
Source: Observadora
