Miranda Sarmento: “Since 2000 there have been six countries that have surpassed Portugal in ‘per capita’ GDP”
“If between 2000 and 2015 there were three countries that surpassed Portugal, in its Government, from 2016 to 2021, there were three more [países] that surpassed Portugal. And there are two more that are preparing to overtake. which means that his government will be marked by five countries that will leave us in terms of GDP [Produto Interno Bruto] per capita“, said deputy Joaquim Miranda Sarmentoleader of the PSD parliamentary group, in this afternoon’s debate with the Prime Minister Antonio Costa in the Assembly of the Republic.
Are these allegations substantiated?
According to Dice compiled by Eurostat, at the level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capitain Purchasing Power Parities (PPC), Portugal down from 78% of the European Union average (with 27 Member States, excluding the United Kingdom, which ceased to be a member in 2020) in 2015when António Costa took over as prime minister, paragraph 74% in 2021.
Among the current 27 Member States, Portugal occupied the 17th position in 2015having dropped to 21st position in 2021.
Deepening the search in Dice of Eurostat, in order to go back to 2001we found that in that year Portugal recorded 84.1% the European Union average (with the current 27 Member States).
It was thus found in 15th positionahead (in descending order) of Slovenia, Malta, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania.
It is important to emphasize here that 13 countries were not yet members of the European Union in 2001.
However, only in 2004 did Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and the Czech Republic enter. In turn, Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union in 2007, while Croatia only advanced in 2013.
In 2021, Portugal fell to 21st position Does classification of GDP per capita (in PPC), having been surpassed by six countries in direct comparison with 2001.
Namely: Slovenia (14th position), Malta (11th position), Czech Republic (13th position), Hungary (20th position), Poland (19th position) and Lithuania (15th position ).
However, the “Expresso” newspaper (November 25 edition) reported that “to be confirmed as more recent European Commission autumn proposal, 2024 will go down in history as the year Romania – once the poorest of the current 27 Member States – will overtake Portugal not classification of economic development of the European Union”.
“The Romanians must ascend to the 19th place of this classificationwith GDP per capita converting to 79% of the European average. The Portuguese will fall again, to 20th placewith a GDP per capita equivalent to 78.8% of the European average. And with Hungarians and Poles on their trail”, he explains.
“The European Commission usually uses this indicator of GDP per capita for distribute European funds depending on the level of development of the European regions compared to the EU27 average. But it is worth noting the constant revisionsbecause of statistical margins of error associated with this indicator expressed in purchasing power parities. In question is a kind of analog converter that serves to eliminate differences in price levels between countriesso as to be able compare wealth that each Member State manages to create per inhabitant“, underlined the said newspaper.
According to the bulletin of Autumn Economic Forecasts of the European Commission, GDP growth of Portugalafter a substantial increase in 6.6% in 2022should slow down in the next two years: +0.7% in 2023 and +1.7% in 2024.
On the other hand, GDP growth in Romaniaafter a substantial increase in 5.8% in 2022should slow down (although not as sharply as that of Portugal) in the following two years: +1.8% in 2023 and +2.2% in 2024.
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