Corruption – damaging Portugal’s reputation?

Portugal’s secretary of State for Internationalisation, Eurico Brilhante Dias, has admitted that several high-profile political and economic corruption scandals are undermining Portugal’s value as an investment destination.

However, he does not yet believe it has done significant damage to Portugal’s image and reputation overseas in terms of scaring away international investment.
In an interview with Antena 1 radio and newspaper Jornal de Negócios about the cases of alleged corruption involving art impresario Joe Berardo and football impresario Luís Filipe Vieira and if it was harming the Portuguese economy, Brilhante Dias said, “our institutions, at a certain point, were not able to guard against behaviours that damage the perception on how our society works”.
However, he ruled out the idea that Portugal’s perception internationally had changed. “Right now I don’t feel that Portugal’s International reputation has been stained. Portugal is not particularly seen as a country where there is more corruption than in others and this should be underscored clearly.”
In fact, he said that these cases showed “Portuguese justice is working” but admits “corruption undermines Portugal’s value economically”.
In the same interview, Eurico Brilhante Dias foresees that the stock of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in Portugal has exceeded €150Bn, a record amount for the Portuguese economy and says that he believes that exports of goods and services will recover by 2022 close to those record levels seen in 2019.