LISBON: Portugal posted a public deficit of 2.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, Eurostat said earlier this week.
This brings the country’s deficit below the 3.0 percent ceiling set by Brussels and would allow Portugal to leave the Excessive Deficit Procedure.
According to Eurostat, Portugal’s public debt in 2016 totalled 130.4 percent of GDP, the third highest in the European Union (EU).
The overall public deficit and public debt fell in 2016 in both the Eurozone and in the EU as a whole, compared to 2015.
In 2016, the public deficit of the Eurozone fell to 1.5 percent of GDP and in the EU it fell to 1.7 percent, compared to 2.1 percent and 2.4 percent in 2015.
Public debt in the Eurozone fell from 90.3 percent of GDP to 89.2 percent and from 84.9 percent to 83.5 percent in the EU, Eurostat said.
