EU maintains a positive budgetary outlook for Portugal

The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, emphasized today that Brussels has a positive budgetary framework for Portugal, which maintains a surplus in public accounts and that the impact of the IRS reform will be noticed this year.
“Generally speaking, we know we have a very positive budgetary framework for Portugal,” said the commissioner, at a press conference in Brussels, adding that the economic forecasts for Portugal this spring estimate “a change in the surplus, which was 1.2% last year, and will drop to 0.4% this year and 0.5% in 2025, but” which continue to refer, “obviously, to a positive surplus, which confirms a good budgetary framework for the country”.
Regarding the impact of the IRS reform, announced by the Government, the commissioner mentioned that it starts as early as 2024 and extends into 2025, but “depends on the level of detail and the adoption of Portuguese budget projections”.
The European Commission is more optimistic and today predicted a budget surplus of 0.4% this year, a tenth above the Portuguese government, and a public debt ratio of 95.6.
The European executive also improved its economic growth forecasts for Portugal to 1.7% this year and 1.9% next, rates above the eurozone and EU average, driven by private consumption and investment.
On the other hand, Brussels maintained the inflation rate forecast for Portugal at 2.3% this year and 1.9% in 2025 and the unemployment rate at 6.5% and 6.4% respectively.