Trade surplus hits new record of €908 million in H1 thanks to services

Portugal has hit a 75-year record of €908 million for its trade surplus for the first half of 2024 according to data from the Bank of Portugal (BoP).

Since January, the balance of goods and services accumulated a positive balance of €908 million with exports growing at a rate exceeding imports.

This new record in the Portuguese trade balance resulted from an increase in the surplus in the services balance, which made it possible to offset the deficit that persists in the goods balance.

This means that while Portugal continues to import more goods than it exports, the balance of services was once again in surplus in the first half of the year: Portugal exported more services (especially travel and tourism) than those it imported, which allowed it to balance the external accounts.

The BoP reports that compared to last year, the surplus of the services account grew by €1.191Bn in the first six months of the year, for a accumulative total of €13.4Bn. Much of this increase was due to the positive performance of Portugal’s travel and tourism balance, which, according to the central bank, increased by €1.024Bn compared to the accumulated value up to the same period last year.

The deficit in the balance of goods fell by €800 million after imports fell more significantly than exports. In the first six months of the year, the accumulative value of imports of goods contracted by 2% (down €997 million), while total exports decreased by 0.5% (down €197 million), according to the BdP. As a result, the accumulated deficit reached €10.923Bn.

If this positive development continues, Portugal could again record a new annual trade surplus, which may even exceed last year’s figures. In 2023, the Portuguese economy recorded a trade surplus of €3.3Bn. The figure marked the country’s return to trade surpluses, after the Covid 19 pandemic led to three consecutive years of deficit.