IMF on Portugal

Portugal: Concluding Statement of the 2015 Article IV IMF Mission

Lisbon, March 17, 2015:

• Growth to be about 1 percent in 2014.
• Employment growth of 1.6 percent last year.
• Public debt rose to 128.7 percent of GDP in 2014, reflecting in part several large one-off transactions
• 2015, growth is projected to accelerate to around 1½ percent

• Annual average inflation is expected to turn positive this year
• The overall fiscal deficit this year would remain, at 3.2 percent of GDP, marginally above the excessive deficit procedure target of 3 percent of GDP.

•  Caution on Low external competitiveness
•  Caution on Excessive corporate leverage 

 Without any risk or responsibility