Overview: Portugal's economy registered only 1.1% growth in 1992 and contracted by 0.4% in 1993, in contrast to the 4.5% average of the fast-paced 1986-90 period. Recession in the European Union, which accounts for 75% of Portugal's international trade, is the key factor in the downturn. The government's long-run economic goal is the modernization of Portuguese markets, industry, infrastructure, and workforce in order to catch up with productivity and income levels of the more advanced EU countries. Per capita income now equals only 55% of the EU average. The government's medium-term economic objective is to be in the first tier of EU countries eligible to join the economic and monetary union (EMU) as early as 1997. Economic policy in 1993 focused on reducing inflationary pressures by lowering the fiscal deficit, maintaining a stable escudo, moderating wage increases, and encouraging increased competition. Resumption of growth in the short run depends on the revival of growth in Europe as a whole, not a likely prospect in the immediate future.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $91.5 billion (1993)

National product real growth rate: -0.4% (1993)

National product per capita: $8,700 (1993)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 7% (1993 est.)

Unemployment rate: 7% (1993 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $27.3 billion
expenditures: $33.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $4.5 billion (1991 est.)

Exports: $17.5 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: cotton textiles, cork and paper products, canned fish, wine, timber and timber products, resin, machinery, appliances
partners: EC 75.4%, other developed countries 12.4%, US 3.8% (1992)

Imports: $28 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities: machinery and transport equipment, agricultural products, chemicals, petroleum, textiles
partners: EC 72%, other developed countries 10.9% less developed countries 12.9%, US 3.4%

External debt: $20 billion (1993 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 9.1% (1990); accounts for 40% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 6,624,000 kW
production: 26.4 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 2,520 kWh (1992)

Industries: textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; wine; tourism

Agriculture: accounts for 6.1% of GDP and 20% of labor force; small, inefficient farms; imports more than half of food needs; major crops - grain, potatoes, olives, grapes; livestock sector - sheep, cattle, goats, poultry, meat, dairy products

Illicit drugs: increasingly important gateway country for Latin American cocaine entering the European market; transshipment point for hashish from North Africa to Europe

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.8 billion Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $1.2 billion

Currency: 1 Portuguese escudo (Esc) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: Portuguese escudos (Esc) per US$1 - 176.16 (January 1994), 160.80 (1993), 135.00 (1992), 144.48 (1991), 142.55 (1990), 157.46 (1989)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Portugal on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Portugal Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Portugal Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.