By Sergio Goncalves
LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal’s economic growth accelerated to 1.5% in the fourth quarter, pushing its full-year expansion to 1.9%, slightly above the government’s forecast, official data showed on Thursday.
The National Statistics Institute (INE) said in its flash estimate that gross domestic product rose 2.7% in the quarter from the same period a year earlier, after growing a revised 0.3% in the previous three months.
INE attributed the strong growth in the fourth quarter to the “acceleration of private consumption”.
The full-year growth rate was slightly higher than the 1.8% projected by the government and compares with 2.5% in 2023.
The preliminary data contrasts with the sluggish growth of Portugal’s European neighbours – bar Spain – such as Germany, France or Italy.
Private consumption, which traditionally represents about two-thirds of Portuguese GDP, was bolstered by tax cuts for families and businesses and rising wages and pensions, INE said.
The institute said the contribution of exports of goods and services, including the key tourism sector, which continues to break records in terms of foreign visitors, “remained negative, reflecting the more intense growth of imports of goods and services compared to exports”.
Filipe Garcia, head of Informacao de Mercados Financeiros consultants, said that domestic demand was still a very important driver of the Portuguese economy, especially private consumption, which was boosted by the increases in disposable income, tourism and employment.
He added that total employment increased by 1.5% in 2024 and the number of employees had grown an “impressive” 25% since 2013.
“Hence the importance of immigration in Portugal’s growth can be seen, so any relevant change in this field requires the greatest care,” Garcia said about recent restrictions imposed by the government on immigrants.
The government sees the economy growing 2.1% this year.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Inti Landauro, David Latona and Kim Coghill)
