Government foresees 7% deficit for 2020

 In Administration, Economy, News

The Portuguese government expects a deficit of 7% this year according to a report issued by Brussels yesterday.

The deficit is above the 6.3% initially calculated in the Supplementary State Budget but is in line with a review announced in July by the minister of Finance.
The Supplementary State Budget had pointed to a deficit of 6.3% for 2020, but in July the newly appointed Minister of Finance, João Leal told parliament that the Government intended to review its deficit forecast to 7%, incorporating and reflecting the changes to the Supplementary Budget, with an impact on expenditure and revenues due to the impact of Covid-19.
The estimates for 2020 in the report sent to Brussels were produced by the Ministry of Finance based on the macroeconomic and annexes attached to the Supplementary State Budget for 2020, approved by the Portuguese Parliament and which already factors in the Covid-19 pandemic.
The forecasts predict a Public Administrative Deficit of €13,972.2 million which according to provisional data also released on Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), compare disastrously to the surplus of €177 million in 2019.
This deterioration in the public deficit foreseen for 2020 above all results from the deterioration in the Central Administration deficit which exceeds the €-3.382,2 million seen in 2019 to €-14.409,7 million this year.