Portugal’s exports value falls to less than half of GDP

The value of Portuguese exports of goods and services fell back to 47% of GDP last year after achieving a historic 50% of GDP in 2022.

It means that the government’s target to consistently achieve 50% of the total wealth created by the country from exports was not met in 2023.
This is according to the newspaper Negócios based on data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) revealing that for 2023 Portugal exported €126.041Bn in goods and services at current prices.
This amount compares with Portugal’s nominal GDP which was €265.741,9Bn in 2023 – corresponding to 47.4%.
It also means that in comparison to the 49.4% registered the previous year (50% is rounded up to the unit), the weight of exports against GDP shrank 2.2% last year on 2022.
One of the main reasons for this fall has been the process of disinflation last year. Since exports and GDP are considered in nominal values, the effects of inflation are not excluded, which as resulted in the weight of exports being inflated in 2022.
However, the upwards trajectory of the prices of goods and services that Portugal has been selling overseas inverted at the end of 2023, particularly concerning the export of goods.
Since May 2023, the prices of goods exported by Portugal are displaying negative values. This is why average inflation on sales overseas fell from 16.3% in 2022 to-1.3% in 2023, registering negative values for the first time since 2020, a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.