Is Portugal one of the few countries that in 2021 registered a GDP lower than 2019?
On March 2, a Facebook page and a graphic of unknown origin highlighted, in yellow, the countries that “in 2021 their GDP was lower than in 2019“. Only Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy are colored yellow. The remaining European countries are painted in green and are attributed with a growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021 that exceeded the registered mark in 2019, before the Covid19 pandemic.
The chart, originally published not reddit, does not specify values. For this reason, the Polygraph consulted the data provided by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical service, and made the calculations. After all, how much did GDP fall in 2020? And how much has it grown in 2021? What are the indications for the coming years?
Overall, with the exception of Turkey and Ireland, all European countries saw their GDP fall in 2020, the first year under the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. With more or less significant drops, GDP contracted by an average of 5.9% in the 27 countries of the European Union (EU), but 2021 would be a year of growth and recovery. Or at least for most Member States.
In 2021 as a whole, in Portugal, GDP registered a growth of 4.9% in volume, after having dropped 8.4% in 2020. Still, the country was one of the few that still hasn’t managed to get back to pre-pandemic levelshaving updated 1.44% of GDP registered in 2, as revealed by data from the Eurostat.
Like Portugal, Spain (-3.3%), Italy (-0.9%) and Greece-0.23%) also fell short of expectations and, faced with significant drops in 2020, were unable to return to the one year to the 2019 figures. Note that some data are provisional. In addition, Liechtenstein does not yet present the numbers for 2021.
No report card “Quarterly National Accounts – Quick Estimate” of the National Statistics Institute (INE), referring to the fourth quarter of 2021, it is reported that, in general terms, GDP “registered a year-on-year rate of 5.8% in the 4th quarter of 2021 (4.4% in the previous quarter)” and that “the result of net external demand for the same period of GDP was, contrary to the previous quarter, as a result of the determination in volume of Exports of Goods and Services”.
“For the year 2021, GDP recorded a growth of 4.9% in volume, the highest since 1990, after the historic increase of 8.4% in 2020, reflecting the markedly adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic activity. ONE internal search a significant positive contribution to the presented consumption of GDP, after being significantly negative in 2020, with a recovery of the private sector and investment. The contributor to the significant demand for external goods was much less negative at 20% registered20, having presented results of external goods and services and exports”, highlighted the INE.
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Polygraph Rating:
True, but…