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The Portuguese Finance Minister is optimistic about the recovery of the Portuguese economy and says that growth is being better than expected, despite the fact that the ‘prospects’ remain very uncertain.
“The economy is recovering rapidly and better than expected in Portugal and Europe,” João Leão said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Berlin, where he is participating in the Eurogroup meeting.
Despite noting that the recovery is not yet complete, the Portuguese finance minister says the third quarter is going “very well” for the construction sector and that the industry is also recovering.
Even tourism, which has been severely affected, is showing signs of recovery, João Leão said on the television of the North American news agency, noting that the number of British and non-European tourists dropped drastically, but domestic tourism and Spanish is declining. positive.
“The government is implementing very strong measures to protect companies, employment and household income. This is helping the economy to recover,” added the Portuguese minister.
João Leão affirmed that the recent appreciation of the euro shows the confidence of the markets in the European Union to face the crisis, but admitted that the “ideal situation” would imply that the exchange rate against the dollar does not continue to increase, since this penalizes to tourism and does not help in the effort to raise the inflation rate in the euro zone.
The minister stressed the importance of the European Union recovery funds, which will help in the short term, but also to “restructure the Portuguese economy in the medium term”, especially in the digital transition and energy transition, to “increase productivity and also potential growth. ”
The Portuguese economy contracted 16.3% in the second quarter, representing the fourth largest decline in the European Union. The European Commission forecasts point to a 9.8% drop in GDP this year and an increase of 6% in 2011.
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