Portugal’s economy “recovering fast” says finance minister

Portugal’s economy is recovering “faster than expected” according to the new finance minister João Leão in an interview with Bloomberg.

The minister said that the European economy was “severely” affected by the pandemic in the second quarter, “but now the economy is recovering fast, better than expected both in Portugal and the Eurozone”.
The statements were made to journalists on Friday after a Eurogroup meeting, but despite an optimistic tone, which he has adopted since taking over at the Finance Ministry this summer, João Leão admitted that the “outlook is still very uncertain and the recovery is not complete.”
In an interview with RTP on Wednesday, João Leão made similar remarks saying that there were “more positive signs of recovery than expected.”
João Leão was appointed Portugal’s new finance minister mid-June replacing Mário Centeno who is now Governor of the Bank of Portugal and had let the Eurogroup EU finance ministers.
Prior to his appointment, Leão spent five years as Secretary of State for the Budget.
In statements to Bloomberg, Portugal’s finance minister specified that the banking sector has helped the economy, that the construction sector continues to do “very well” and that Portugal’s manufacturing industry is recovering.
However, the finance minister admitted that tourism is still “well below” last year’s levels, although recovering. When asked about the UK’s decision to remove mainland Portugal from the air corridor list, the minister acknowledged the impact that the decision had had and would have, adding that the government had adopted specific measures to drum up demand for tourism.