Despite the ongoing challenges the country faces, recent economic data has brought some hope with regards to Portugal’s future. According to official statistics, gross domestic product (GDP) growth was positive for both the second and third quarters of 2013 – at 1.1% and 0.2%, respectively – ending, at least in technical terms, Portugal’s economic recession. Furthermore, unemployment has continued to fall, from 17.7% in the first three months of 2013 to 16.4% and 15.6% in the following two quarters.
The government still expects to have closed 2013 with a GDP contraction, but the final figure looks set to be -1.8%, rather than the -2.3% previously anticipated. Meanwhile, 2014 projections indicate a 0.8% GDP growth, a little higher than the 0.6% that had been forecast. The capital markets seem to have welcomed the news. On November 27, the yield on 10-year government bonds was 5.86%, down from 7.75% on the same date in 2012, or the 2013 peak of 7.51% in mid-July.
