The President of the Republic said that GDP figures show that the Portuguese economy is “far from taking off”

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said this Monday that the 0.2% decline in overall gross domestic product (GDP) growth shows that the Portuguese economy is “still far from taking off”.

“There is reason to say that the world economy is not growing as expected, and this is reflected in our exports, in economic growth in Portugal. We have gained compared to the previous year, when there was a greater decline during this period, but this means that we are still far from taking off the Portuguese economy,” said the President of the Republic while visiting the National Art Museum of Moldova in Chisinau.

However, the President of the Republic admitted that there is good news: “Inflation is improving and is likely to improve at different rates in several countries, in Portugal it is improving, this is a good sign.”

Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 1.9% in the third quarter compared with the same period last year and fell 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, according to a quick estimate released Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

“Gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2023 registered a year-on-year change of 1.9% in real terms, following a 2.6% increase in the previous quarter,” the quick 30-day report indicated. evaluation of INE National Accounts Quarterly.

According to the statistics institute, “the positive contribution of net external demand to annual GDP change decreased from that observed in the previous quarter, as a result of a significant slowdown in exports of goods and services in volume terms.” , while the commodity component shows a pronounced decline.”

Compared to the second quarter of the year, the rate of change of GDP in the July-September period was -0.2%, after a quarterly increase of 0.1% in the previous quarter.