2021.02.0210:46:00UTC+00Portugal Growth Slows Sharply In Q4

Portugal's economy grew at a sharply slower pace in the final three months of 2020, amid a resurgence in the coronavirus infections that forced partial lockdowns across euro area countries

Gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent from the third quarter, when it rose 13.3 percent, preliminary data from Statistics Portugal showed on Tuesday. In the first and second quarters, output decreased 4.0 and 13.9 percent, respectively.

Domestic demand and net external demand made positive contributions to the quarter-on-quarter rate of change of GDP, the agency said.

On a year-on-year basis, the economy shrank 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter after a 5.7 percent contraction in the third quarter. The annual shrinkage was the fourth in a row.

For the full year 2020, GDP decreased 7.6 percent after 2.2 percent growth in 2019. The decline was the most intense of the available national accounts series and reflected the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic activity, Statistics Portugal said.

Domestic demand made a significant negative contribution to the annual rate of change of GDP, mainly due to the decrease of private consumption.

Marked declines in exports and imports of both goods and services made the contribution of net external demand was more negative in 2020. In particular, tourism exports had an unprecedented reduction.