Portugal GDP 1.7% for 2020 but ranks 17th from 27

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The latest forecasts from the European Union suggest Portugal will maintain a growth rate of or close to 2% GDP this year.

However, the European Commission places Portugal in only 17th position in terms of economic growth from the list of 27 EU member state countries.
Brussels published its winter forecast on Wednesday, in which it updates it forecasts from October 2019. Portugal’s GDP climbs 1.7% this year, above the 1.4% forecast for the EU overall and 1.2% for the Euro Zone.
But ahead of Portugal, compared to the other 26, is Malta with a predicted growth of 4% (in first place in the ranking) while Ireland, Cyprus and Greece which, like Portugal, have all gone through periods of economic and financial adjustment and austerity, will have all pushed in front of Portugal with projected GDP growth of 3.6%, 2.8% and 2.4% respectively.
Despite Portugal’s economy growing above the European Union average (both EU and Euro Zone), the comparison with her main European trading partners is unfavourable. The Commission sees Spain’s economy growing at 1.6% (0.1% below Portugal), Germany and France growing just 1.1%, while Italy straggles behind with 0.3%.
And although the Commission suggests that the EU and EZ will enjoy stability between 2019 and 2020 – with growth of 1.4% and 1.2% for each of the two blocs, 20 countries are expected to see their economies shrink (including Portugal), five of them with a slightly better outlook and two of them whose economies will remain the same.