State registers surplus of €5.2Bn

The Portuguese State registered a surplus of €5.2Bn in its public accounts to September, 2022.

The information, which was released by the Ministry of Finances, was an improvement of €9.9Bn on the same period in 2021.
The surplus reflects an improvement in the balance of €2.7Bn posted in 2019, the pre-pandemic year when Portugal also made a budget surplus for the first time in its democratic history.
According to the ministry, this surplus reflects an increase in revenues of 15.5% on 2021 and 14.9% compared to 2019, which is justified by a “dynamic labour market” and the effect of inflation.
On the other hand, it reflects an increase in expenditure by 0.3% on 2021, influenced by a reduction in expenses incurred from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Primary expenditure increased 1%, but without the effect of Covid measures, it would have been a like-for-like increase of 3.4%, while current expenditure rose by 4.3% Compared to 2019, primary expenditure saw an increase of 11.2%.