Portugal will take two years to recover the economic level it had before the pandemic, foresees the prime minister, guaranteeing that the country is prepared to face the difficulties.

“This time it will take us about two years to recover the level of the pre-pandemic Gross Domestic Product, which should occur in summary of next year ”, announced this Tuesday, soon comparing with the “nine long years to recover the same level of GDP before the economic and financial crisis of 2008/2011”.

“This time, and contrary to what is usual, it was different. It was different, from the outset, because it was possible to put in place a very robust European response, which we want to constitute a real paradigm shift”, added the chief executive, on the sidelines of the Congress of the Order of Economists, in Lisbon.

According to António Costa, when the social and economic crisis arising from the Covid-19 pandemic began, Portugal was “in a better starting position” in the face of the 2008 crisis.

And, to support his perspective, he recalled that the country recorded, “between 2015 and 2019, a GDP growth of 11.5% in volume”, with exports today having “the largest share of GDP in history, 43.5% ”

Currently, the country has resumed “economic growth, the unemployment rate is below the level it was before the crisis, as exports are growing again”, there is a “new high in business investment in the first half of the year this year and AICEP will close this year with a new record of contracted investment”.

In his speech to the participants at the congress, António Costa asked economic agents for ambition, so that the country does not go beyond “mere recovery” and can converge with the European Union.

“We are not doomed to diverge and wither away”

As highlighted by the prime minister, the Portuguese economy may once again converge with the European Union this year or next. Portugal is not condemned “to diverge and wither away”, he said.

“We converged with the European Union in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and everything points to us returning to the path of convergence in 2022, if not even in this year of 2021”, he anticipated.

“The recent good performance gives us confidence for this recovery, shows that we are not condemned to diverge and wither away. It shows that it is possible to mobilize Portuguese society and economy for a recovery process that don’t just make us go back where you choose, but which allow us to resume a cycle of convergence and improvement in the standard of living of the Portuguese men and women, which is surely what we all want”, emphasizes António Costa.

The prime minister spoke this morning at the opening of the 9th National Congress of Economists, taking place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in Lisbon.

On the sidelines of the event, and in response to questions from journalists, he said that only on Thursday, after the Council of Ministers, he will talk about new measures to combat Covid-19. For now, it is the allocation time, he added, just before the start of the first round of hearings.