IMF raises its forecast for Portugal’s economic growth

A street cleaner pulls a hose as he works in an arcade at the Comercio square in downtown Lisbon, Portugal

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that Portugal’s economy will grow by 1.6 percent this year and 1.5 percent in 2016, after posting growth of 0.9 percent in 2014, according to the World Economic Outlook, published Tuesday in Washington.
In November 2014, when it carried out the first post-
programme monitoring of the Portuguese economy, the International Monetary Fund predicted more modest growth both for 2015 and for 2016 of 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
The IMF also expects the unemployment rate in Portugal to total 13.1 percent this year and 12.6 percent in 2016, which is also more optimistic than presented in the World Economic Outlook 2014, which estimated the unemployment would be 13.5 percent in 2015.
Inflation, in turn, is expected to be 0.6 percent this year and 1.3 percent in 2016 and that Portugal’s foreign reserves will total 1.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015 and 1 percent of GDP in 2016.
The most recent forecasts from the Portuguese government, published in October 2014 in the presentation of the state budget proposal for 2015, pointed to economic growth of 1.5 percent this year and 1.7 percent in 2016.  MDT/Macauhub