Former minister says Portugal needs 290 years to match eurozone productivity
Former Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos estimates that, under current conditions, Portugal needs another 290 years to equal the eurozone’s average productivity.
In an interview with Lusa, regarding the launch of Bertrand Editora’s book “Change times, keep challenges”, the former government official said that “there is no possibility” of improving the standard of living of the Portuguese if it does not improve the a standard of living of the Portuguese productivity. “There is no other way, there is no other way. Let us have no illusions about this”, he defended.
If the country wants to improve its well-being, its standard of living has to improve productivity. This is a great challenge for all of us: the State, families, workers, entrepreneurs, all of us. This is the challenge that the country has to face and, in my opinion, give it a high priority”, he underlined.
In a simulation integrated in the book that will be released, respectively, in Lisbon and Porto, on 19 and 20 January, it is calculated that, if productivity growth rates are maintained and in the euro zone, 45 years will be presented for single countries to currency of 60% of average productivity and 154 years to reach 75%. And 290 years to match.
“In fact, we have something very significant in the progress of our productivity, because we will continue to lag behind the European average”, he defended.
The calculations as starting levels the average of the observed productivity level between 2015 and 2019, remembering that they have time Labor productivity in Portugal represents around 54% of the eurozone average and yours average annual growth between 1999 and 2019 was 0.93%, higher than the average value recorded in single currency countries of 0.72% per year.
Teixeira dos Santos told Lusa that productivity growth rates in the decade are “very slow”, arguing that “when growing at this average, the progress of the last productivity is very slow”.
It is that, “as we progress, the eurozone also progresses – little like us, but also progresses”, he explained.
“We are chasing a target that is moving and it will take a long time to catch it”, he stressed.
The former ruler stressed that the country has a low coefficient of capital and labor. “There is little capital per worker. Therefore, workers cannot be very productive either. if they don’t have these tools, equipment and equipment, they strive to produce. This has to do with a low level of investment in the Portuguese economy, which causes the economy’s “capital stock” to be reduced,” he said.
In this sense, he highlighted that historically the “stock” of capital tends to increase, but in Portugal “in recent years it has been decreasing, which harms growth and productivity”.
According to the finances of the former minister registered with the State, if by book, Portugal’s productivity, on average, as it grows, the country will reach “60% of the European average at the end of the decade and example almost half a century to equal it”.
Fernando Teixeira dos Santos was Minister of State and Finance between 2005 and 2011, having been responsible for requesting external aid from Portugal during the economic and financial crisis. Between 2000 and 2005, he was also chairman of the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM), between 2016 and 2020, having been chairman of the Eurobic Executive Committee between 2016 and 2020.
* Lusa Agency