Portugal 6 months to June trade deficit shrinks 7.5 pct to 8.75 bln eur

Sep 10, 2007 - Portugal's global trade deficit shrank 7.5 pct to 8.75 bln eur in the six months to June, from 9.47 bln a year earlier, as a 9.2 pct rise in exports to 18.68 bln more than offset a 3.3 pct rise in imports to 27.43 bln, the INE statistics institute said.

In a statement, INE said Portugal's trade gap with non-EU countries in the seven months to July shrank 14.2 pct to 2.81 bln eur from 3.28 bln a year earlier, as exports rose 15.8 pct to 5.03 bln, outpacing a 2.9 pct rise in imports to 7.84 bln.

Portugal final Q2 GDP up 0.5 pct vs Q1, up 1.6 pct yr-on-yr

Sep 7, 2007 - GDP rose 0.5 pct in the second quarter of this year from the first, and was up 1.6 pct from a year earlier, according to the final statistics from the INE statistics institute.

In a statement, INE said that year-on-year growth in the second quarter was slower than the 2.00 pct growth registered in the first.

The figures are practically in line with the preliminary calculations released mid-August, which estimated 1.6 pct year-on-year and 0.4 pct quarter- on-quarter growth for the second quarter.

Portugal GDP positive but economy only 'halfway' to matching EU growth

May 8, 2007 - Recent upwardly revised GDP forecasts for Portugal from the central bank and the European Union are positive, but the economy is only halfway to achieving its goal to match the EU average for GDP growth, Economy Minister Manuel Pinho said.

Speaking today at a conference hosted by Exame magazine, Pinho said: 'What we saw in Portugal is rare in public finances, we reduced the deficit and the GDP growth accelerated.'

Pinho said the fact that the Bank of Portugal economic climate indicator is at its highest level since July 2002 and that the PSI 20 index is at the highest point since September 2000 are good indicators of future growth.

'These results speak for themselves, but we are only halfway,' Pinho said.

Yesterday, the European Commission revised upwards Portugal's GDP growth estimates to 1.8 pct in 2007 from 1.5 pct earlier, and to 2.00 pct in 2008 from 1.7 pct earlier.

Last month, the Bank of Portugal raised its 2008 GDP growth forecast to 2.4 pct from 2.1 pct previously and projected an acceleration in growth to 3.0 pct in 2009.