“Bazuca” leaves Portugal with an external surplus of 850 million euros until August
Between January and August of this year, Portugal registered an external surplus of 850 million euros, according to data released this Wednesday by the Portugal’s bank (BdP). In 2020 Portugal only reached the surplus in October, but this year the repayment of the “troika” in July and the transfers from the European Union (EU) under the Recovery and Resilience Plan in August are the country with the greatest slack.
This figure represents 1,088 million euros more than in the first eight months of 2020, a time highly marked by Covid-19. However, it is below the values of 2019 in the same period (1,843 million euros).
For the Portuguese economy to reach this surplus, the payment, in August, of 2,159 million euros of pre-financing by the EU for the Recovery and Resilience Plan was crucial.
In addition to payment, the balance of trade in August increased by 12 million compared to the same period in 2020, standing at 351 million euros. Both exports and imports grew, with the level of goods growing more, exports and service levels being more imports. However, they remain below pre-pandemic values.
“The growth in travel and tourism exports (48.3%) was the biggest contributor to the increase in the surplus in the balance of services. Revenues from tourists from France, Spain and the United Kingdom, the three main countries of origin of the revenue from non-resident tourists, despite remaining below pre-pandemic levels (August 2019), increased compared to July 2021 and August 2020”, indicates the BdP.
On the other hand, Portugal contributed 160 million euros to the budget of the European Union (92 million euros more than in August of last year), causing the surplus in the secondary income balance to be reduced by 110 million euros.
The BdP also reports that “in August 2021, the availability of the Central Bank for Special Health Rights (DSE) allocated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a value of 2,390 million euros increased”.