Speech by the Minister of State and Finance at the Banking On Change – ECO Conference
Portugal is going through a time of profound transformation
In 2025, the Portuguese economy grew above the European average, close to 2%. Following the negative effects of international uncertainty, the trade war and the geopolitical clashes, the national economy continued to show high resilience.
This performance boosts the confidence felt by the economic agents and the Government’s conviction that it is possible to maintain a resilient and solid economy.
As for indebtedness, for the first time since 2009, Portugal was able to cut the public debt ratio to below the 90% threshold to 89.6%. It went beyond the 90.2% target set in the State Budget for 2025.
Furthermore, the fact that the external debt dropped last year to 110.9 billion euros, the third lowest since the third quarter of 2007.
On a fiscal level, the country is also in an enviable position, having finished last year with a 1.3-billion-euro surplus in public accounting, a 900-million-euro on the previous year.
The data, in the national accounts optic, will only be known on 26 March, but everything points towards a budget surplus of at least 0.3%.
Read the speech in full