The Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, said this Monday that he expects positive growth in the Portuguese economy in the fourth quarter of 2022, which will improve circumstances for the entry into 2023, in which he aims for growth of 1 ,3%.
I believe that today we can safely say that the projections we had in the General State Budget that we presented in October, in terms of growth for this year, will be exceeded, as a result of the growth already confirmed in the third quarter, which was significantly positive, but which I also anticipate that in the fourth quarter it will also be positive”, said the Minister of Finance.
Fernando Medina, who spoke at the “Meetings outside the Box” event, which took place this Monday in Lisbon, considered that this evolution contradicts the “most pessimistic” who believed that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would fall to negative ground in this end of the year line, which a fourth quarter with positive growth “will further improve the situation to enter 2023”.
The Government projections that accompany the State Budget proposal for 2023 (OE2023) point to economic growth of 6.5% in 2022, but the data already available lead the minister to now aim at 6.7%.
the 30th of NovemberThe National Institute of Statistics (INE) confirmed that GDP increased 4.9% in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2021 and grew 0.4% compared to the second quarter.
The 1.3% growth projected by the Government for 2023 will be added to 6.7% for 2022, said the minister, refusing to read those who understand that the value is optimistic in the current context of uncertainty, and those who point out that Portugal is falling behind.
Assuming 1.3% reflects a “slowdown from 6.7%” [de 2022] Even so, he said that it is a value that is added to the very high use of the country’s productive capacity and the high level of employment.
Regarding the evolution of inflation, and after specifying that he does not make his own projections, using data from the European Central Bank, Fernando Medina said that it is now “evident” that the country is “experiencing a moment of less tension due to the rise in prices”. . ” .
Even in the context of inflation, he admitted that the relaxation of the “zero Covid” policy in China and the consequent impact on the normalization of production chains could have some impact on inflation.
Fernando Medina also raised the need to prevent inflation based on energy and the disruption of supply chains from being transmitted to the rest of the economy, a situation that, if it occurred, would have to be combated with an increase in juro. a different level
Source: Observadora
