Brussels forecasts 4.1% GDP growth for 2021

The European Union has revised Portugal’s GDP growth downwards to 4.1% for 2021 based on negative growth for the first quarter of the year.

It instead estimates that the economy will only return to pre-crisis levels at the end of 2022.
The Brussels forecast comes as the first quarter of 2021 will be marked by tumbling growth levels in the Eurozone, with Portugal suffering the greatest economic contraction in the EU.
The European Commission forecasts that Portugal’s GDP will fall 2.1% for the first quarter of the year.
The EU expects that Europe’s economy will start to pick up in the second quarter of 2021, but it will depend on two main factors: the pandemic and the effects of Brexit. It is therefore predicted the EU’s GDP will fall 0.8% and the Eurozone 0.9% on the fourth quarter of 2020.
Two other EU countries are also forecast to suffer a sharp fall in GDP on the fourth quarter: Ireland (with a fall of 1.6% and Austria. (1.4%).
Portugal has been one of the countries most hard it by the third wave of the pandemic, having recorded record contagion levels, hospital admissions and deaths in January, requiring assistance from other countries like Germany and Austria.
As for beyond Easter, the EU predicts a better economic performance in the second quarter with a “big recovery” estimated for the summer months.