Today, the Minister of Economic Affairs in Lisbon acknowledged that there is a “large delay” in the income of the Portuguese, arguing that there is no reason for the country to be content with less than the European average.
© Lusa
29/10/2026
by
Lusa
O minister of Economics today in Lisbon recognized that there is a “large delay” in the income of the Portuguese, arguing that there is no reason for the country to be content with less than the European average.
“GDP [Gross Domestic Product] per capita is one of the worst indicators in the confrontation with Europe. We are approximately 80% of GDP per capita. As much as Portugal had 30 years ago. We were taking a step”, admitted the Minister for Economic Affairs and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, at a parliamentary hearing in the context of the discussion of the State Budget for 2027 (OE2027).
The governor said that there is “a huge delay” in the income of the Portuguese, although he stressed that it was worse, and added that he did not see any reason why the country would be content with less than the average of the European Union.
Portugal's way of catching up, according to the minister, is that the country grows more every year than the European average.
In this sense, it pointed out that if the country grows as much as in the first half of this year, it is possible to reach 100% of the European average in 2043.
“ In 10 years we were able to recover 12 percentage points. It is within the reach of the Portuguese, so there is ambition and organization of work ", said.
For Castro Almeida, this will happen if the “largest share of income” is in the hands of families and in the pockets of companies.
“The State must have what is necessary to guarantee the social state and authority,” he noted.
The minister also pointed out that the government did “six IRS casualties”, which represent less than 4,000 million euros collected in taxes.
In response to MEPs, the Minister of Economic Affairs also said that Portuguese wages are systematically growing above inflation, referring to what he classified as “unambiguous numbers of the INE” (National Statistical Institute).
However, he admitted that he liked this difference to be greater, which he explained was not possible because of the Gulf War and the increase in fuel costs.
“ Nevertheless, [wages] are growing in Portugal. I am not saying that they are well or growing too much”, insisted.
The overall final vote of the OE2027 is scheduled for November 24, after the discussion process in the specialty.