LISBON: Portugal’s Labour Minister, José António Vieira da Silva said the country’s budget deficit would fall to below 2.5 percent and that the Portuguese economy is recovering.“The Portuguese economy is not a stagnant economy, it is an economy undergoing an economic recovery,” said Vieira da Silva noting that this would be a factor in drawing up the 2017 budget.
According to Vieira da Silva, “the Portuguese economy, specifically from a budget point of view, is giving very clear signs that Portugal is comfortably achieving its targets in terms of reducing its budget deficit,” and it is possible that the “deficit will be clearly below 2.5 percent of GDP.” Asked about potential pension increases, the minister declined to talk about “specific aspects of 2017” but noted that the Government would “continue to carry out those that were fundamental options from the beginning” involving “recovering the income of the Portuguese”.
The Minister for Labour, Solidarity and Social Security was speaking at a press conference after a Cabinet Meeting in which there was “an in depth discussion of the economic situation” to structure the macroeconomic scenario that will be the basis for drawing up the State Budget for 2017.
