Exports to reach 50% of Portugal’s GDP
Portugal’s Minister of the Economy says that Portugal is on target to have 50% of its GDP generated from exporting companies and tourism.
António Costa e Silva says that Portugal’s companies displayed a remarkable performance in 2022, with a growth of 6.8%.
Addressing a parliamentary commission for the Economy, Public Works and Housing, the Minister of the Economy pointed out that it was the best performance in terms of year-on-year growth of any country in the EU bar Ireland.
“The economy has weathered some difficult situations, particularly in energy and raw materials following the war, and despite this did well,” he told Portuguese MPs.
Costa Silva also highlighted tourism: “The 2019 record of 27 million guests and €18.6Bn in revenues was exceeded by November 2022, reaching €18.6Bn, and I believe that when accounts are closed for 2022 we should have brought in around €20Bn.”
The minister also highlighted the metal-mechanics sector “which is extremely important for the industrial development of the country”, whose exports also stood at around €20Bn. “We have seen over the year, month after month, the exports from this sector beat records”.
In the textiles and clothing sectors too, there was a very robust performance with exports in 2021 at €5.4Bn being superseded in 2022 with an expected €6Bn.