Portugal achieves external surplus of €7.2Bn — the largest in 10 years

Portugal managed to achieve positive external accounts in 2023, posting an overseas surplus of €7.2Bn after a deficit in 2022.

It was the highest ratio since 2013 according to the Bank of Portugal from data released on Monday.
The surplus in the current and capital account balance was 2.7% of GDP. This result was an improvement on 2022 when the Portuguese economy had presented an overseas financing requirement of €0.5Bn. (-0.2% of GDP)
The BoP said that the balance of goods and services “presented a positive balance of €3.3Bn (1.2% of GDP), the balance of services surplus exceeding the deficit registered in the balance of goods.
In services, travel and tourism stand out, which enabled exports to register a positive balance last year, as the world recovered from the pandemic.
Tourists from the United Kingdom, France and Germany were responsible for the lion’s share of tourism revenues.
Equally, remittences from overseas Portuguese émigrés also contributed to the overseas surplus at €3.41Bn in 2023 with Portuguese expats living in France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom responsible for over a half of the remittences received by Portuguese families.