Bank of Portugal slashes growth forecasts

The Bank of Portugal has cut its growth forecast for 2018 from 2.3% to 2.1% in a series of forecasts to 2021.The main justification for the downward revision is a slowdown in Portugal’s exports for the period to September 2018.

It also states that the government’s projections do not take into account recent problems related to the dock workers strike which resulted in Portugal’s largest car manufacturer, Autoeuropa failing to meet its target of 240,000 cars in 2018.

The new Bank of Portugal projections forecast a weaker growth than government expectations not only regarding 2018 but also forecasts for 2019.

The central bank warns that the Portuguese economy will suffer a slowdown according to its Economic Bulletin which was published on Wednesday by the Bank.

The report includes the first forecasts for 2021. In addition to growth of 2.1% for 2018, the document points to growth in 2019 that will barely surpass 1.8% which is in line with forecasts from the IMF for Portugal.

In contrast, the State Budget for 2019 which has been approved by parliament for the coming year predicts growth of 2.2%.