Economy - overview:
Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy since joining the European Community in 1986. Over the past decade, successive governments have privatized many state-controlled firms and liberalized key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and began circulating its new currency, the euro, on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU member economies. Economic growth has been above the EU average for much of the past decade, but fell back in 2001-02. GDP per capita stands at 75% of that of the leading EU economies. A poor educational system, in particular, has been an obstacle to greater productivity and growth. Portugal has been increasingly overshadowed by lower-cost producers in Central Europe and Asia as a target for foreign direct investment. The new coalition government faces tough choices in its attempts to boost Portugal's economic competitiveness and to keep the budget deficit within the 3% EU ceiling.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $182 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
0.8% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $18,000 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 3.6%
industry: 28.7%
services: 67.7% (2001)
Population below poverty line:
NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 28.4% (1995 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
35.6 (1994-95)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.7% (2002 est.)
Labor force:
5.1 million (2000)
Labor force - by occupation:
services 60%, industry 30%, agriculture 10% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate:
4.7% (2002 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $45 billion
expenditures: $48 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)
Industries:
textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; wine; tourism
Industrial production growth rate:
1.5% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production:
44.32 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 64.5%
hydro: 31.3%
other: 4.2% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
41.48 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
3.479 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
3.743 billion kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
339,800 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
28,830 bbl/day (2001)
Oil - imports:
357,300 bbl/day (2001)
Agriculture - products:
grain, potatoes, olives, grapes; sheep, cattle, goats, poultry, beef, dairy products
Exports:
$25.9 billion f.o.b. (2001)
Exports - commodities:
clothing and footwear, machinery, chemicals, cork and paper products, hides
Exports - partners:
EU 79.7% (Germany 19.2%, Spain 18.6%, France 12.6%, UK 10.3%, Benelux 5.4%), US 5.8% (2001)
Imports:
$39 billion f.o.b. (2001)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum, textiles, agricultural products
Imports - partners:
EU 74.2% (Spain 26.5%, Germany 13.9%, France 10.3%, Italy 6.7%, UK 5.0%), US 3.8%, Japan 1.9% (2001)
Debt - external:
$13.1 billion (1997 est.)
Economic aid - donor:
ODA, $271 million (1995)
Currency:
euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries
Currency code:
EUR
Exchange rates:
euros per US dollar - 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
NOTE: The information regarding Portugal on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Portugal Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
