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Portugal saw a stagnation of its convergence process over the 2000s and the great recession is likely to hold back potential growth over the coming years. Weak productivity gains across [...]

The process of fiscal consolidation and the need to step up the poor long term economic performance provide an opportunity to implement tax measures to improve efficiency and rebalance the [...]

Since the early 2000s, Portugal has seen its convergence process towards more developed OECD economies come to a halt. Slow trend growth has mostly reflected the imbalances of the Portuguese [...]

The Portuguese economy is open to the rest of the world, with low formal barriers to trade and FDI, and this helped its growth performance in the past. However, export [...]

Portugal has made good progress in reducing the fiscal deficit in 2006 and 2007, with a wide-ranging consolidation programme, including shorter-term measures and structural reforms to address problems in spending [...]

While participation rates are above average in Portugal, employment has been broadly stagnant since 2000, the unemployment rate has doubled and long-term unemployment is close to 50%. The labour market [...]

After a weak growth performance in the first part of the 2000s, more recent economic developments have been encouraging. The recovery that started in the course of 2005 gathered momentum [...]

Fiscal policy has failed to durably reduce the deficit below the Stability and Growth Pact threshold of 3% of GDP. The 2005 consolidation programme designed to bring the fiscal deficit [...]

This chapter discusses the performance of primary and secondary education services and shows that improvements are needed to narrow the significant human capital gap with other OECD countries. Despite progress [...]

This chapter examines tertiary education, adult training and research and development which are--besides primary and secondary education--essential for modernizing Portugal's economy and increasing living standards. As returns on investment in [...]

This chapter discusses structural reforms in product and labour markets that can help boost productivity growth and facilitate Portugal's adjustment to the new, more competitive, international environment. The business sector [...]

Following a period of catching up between the mid-1980s and 2000, the process came to a sudden end. Output growth was weak in 2005. Although some recovery is expected in [...]

The current Portuguese system providing health care and insurance was established in the second half of the 1970s, after the democratic revolution, as a response to very low health care [...]

Reducing the fiscal deficit and securing sustainability of public finances over the medium-term has been the main macroeconomic policy priority since 2002. This is first a response to the European [...]

The authorities have undertaken a wide range of reforms to improve competitiveness and ensure faster growth to lift Portugal's living standards. Given Portugal's already high degree of labour utilisation, the [...]

Overview Portugal's key medium term challenge is to raise income levels, to close the still large gap with more advanced OECD countries. This will require policies and reforms that raise [...]

Introduction A sustained consolidation of public finances is one of the most important challenges facing the authorities. During the latter part of the high growth period, between 1997 and 2000, [...]

The sustainable increase of Portuguese productivity and competitiveness requires a deep modification of the business environment. Bearing in mind the persistent competitiveness loss observed in the last years, the government [...]

The private internal rate of return on education is an indicator that measures the effects higher educational attainment has on the earnings of workers relative to the cost of the [...]

Overview An extended period of real convergence in living standards towards the euro area average came to a halt in 2000 and the Portuguese economy continued to slow down in [...]

The 1996 OECD Economic Survey of Portugal examined social security reform, emphasising the need to enhance the financial sustainability of the social transfer and pension systems and achieve greater efficiency [...]

Within the framework set out by the OECD Jobs Study, the 1996 OECD Economic Survey of Portugal provided a set of detailed policy recommendations for improving the functioning of Portugal's [...]

Introduction Since the beginning of the 1990s, consumer-price increases for non-tradeables have exceeded those for tradeables by a significant margin.(25) In international terms this is not unusual, and, indeed, the [...]

Recent developments The slowdown in economic activity, which had commenced in 1991, became more pronounced at the end of 1992. Output declined by around 1/4 per cent in the second [...]

Overview 1993 was characterised by setbacks to monetary and fiscal policy. Fiscal consolidation suffered a severe reverse, as falling output and tax evasion contributed to a deficit overrun of 3 [...]

Accession to the European Community (EC) on 1st January, 1986 marked the end of a lengthy transition period in Portugal's international integration. Application was first made in March 1977, but [...]

OECD ECONOMIC SURVEYS PORTUGAL Table of contents Introduction I. Recent trends Overview Demand and output Labour market developments Renewed wage and price inflation International trade and finance II. Medium-term adjustment: [...]

Portugal's longer-term performance The Portuguese economy has achieved an average annual growth rate of 3 1/2 per cent over the past fifteen years, 1 percentage point above the average for [...]

Main features of the portuguese tax system 2000 Tax Nauture of tax Deductions, credits and exemptions 1. Income taxes IRS is levied on income Social security subsidies 1.1 Personal derived [...]

Overview The cycle of expansion that began in 1994 continued in 2000, thanks to the strength of exports and despite a sharp slowdown in domestic demand. Portugal is one of [...]

The Portuguese financial sector has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. Until the late 1980s, state ownership of financial institutions and a myriad of direct controls were more typical [...]

This chapter examines recent progress in structural reform, with a focus on the labour market, increased product market competition and measures related to the health care system. The unemployment rate [...]

The current cycle placed in perspective The economy entered its sixth year of expansion in 1999, private consumption and investment spending being boosted by rising disposable income, lower interest rates, [...]