Economy grows 1.9% in 2024, above Government estimates

Portuguese Gross Domestic Product grew 1.9% in 2024, according to an estimate by the Portuguese Statistics Office (INE) published on 30 January.  Household consumption was the driver for the Portuguese economy’s growth last year.

This number is above most forecasts by national and international institutions, as well as the Government, which forecast 1.8% growth last year.

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro posted on X (former Twitter) that the economy "is growing to ensure better wages and save the Social State", adding that "this was the commitment I undertook with the Portuguese". 

"The financial stability we consolidated, the political stability we achieved, the trust we have are the condition to drive a virtuous cycle of investment and wealth generation", he added. 

Grater solidity for 2025

In a statement in Parliament on 15 January, the Minister of State and Finance Joaquim Miranda Sarmento claimed that "the numbers for the fourth quarter were significantly good. There was economic acceleration", which "brings greater solidity for the .1% economic growth forecast for 2025".

Miranda Sarmento also reiterated that the Government’s target for public finance is to have a 0.4% GDP surplus in 2024 and 0.3% in 2025".

The Minister also said that currently "the economic circumstances are very different" to what they were when "the zero-interest rate monetary policy created much more favourable conditions".  "At this time, we have a situation of major uncertainty".

Miranda Sarmento also noted that the measures approved by the opposition, namely for the State budget, take away the Government’s room to implement their own economic growth measures. 

"If we are allowed to fulfil our programme, which hasn’t been easy, the Portuguese economy has the conditions to start growing more than it grew in previous years, at numbers close to 3%", he added.