PS marks “the greatest way out of poverty” and challenges the opposition of correct speech.

This Friday, PS cited data from the National Statistical Institute (INE) to mark “the biggest drop in poverty ever” and called on opposition forces to correct their discourse on impoverishment.

This position was stated by the Deputy General Secretary of the Socialists, Joao Torres, at a press conference, during which he avoided talking about recent affairs in the government, in particular the situation with Minister Joao Gomes Cravinho.

In front of reporters, João Torres emphasized that in terms of the risk of poverty or social exclusion, Portugal recorded in 2022 “the lowest value in history”, falling from 22.4% in 2021 to 19.4% last year.

“There has been a decrease in all age and social groups, but especially in families with three or more children, which have halved compared to 2015,” he noted, before criticizing the opposition’s political discourse.

“Over the past few months, the opposition has based its strategy to fight the government on the impoverishment hoax. Now the opposition needs to admit that this data is positive,” he said, later challenging opposition forces, in particular SDP President Luis Montenegro, correcting what he had said.

At the press conference, the Deputy General Secretary of the PS mentioned that the risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2015 was 26.6%.

“That is, since 2015 it has decreased by 27%. We can safely say that since we took over state functions [em novembro de 2015]“Public policies implemented by the government have lifted 734,000 people out of a vulnerable position,” he said.

João Torres then pointed out that the level of inequality decreased by 9.3% between 2020 and 2021, and spoke about the measures planned by the government for the current year in terms of combating poverty.

“The Childhood Guarantee was regulated, an increase in the family allowance was announced and, most recently, public notice was given to update the social allowance for the elderly by 11% from April (but retroactive to January), as well as an increase of 8.4% in the social allowance for people with disabilities and a 10% increase in the base value of social contribution income above the inflation rate,” he added.