Portugal Economy 2001

Economy - overview: Portugal is an upcoming capitalist economy with a per capita GDP two-thirds that of the four big West European economies. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and joined with 10 other European countries in launching the euro on 1 January 1999. The year 2000 was marked by moderation in growth, inflation, and unemployment. The country continues to run a sizable trade deficit. The government is working to reform the tax system, to modernize capital plant, and to increase the country's competitiveness in the increasingly integrated world markets. Growth is expected to fall off slightly in 2001. Improvement in the education sector is critical to the long-run catch-up process.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $159 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 2.7% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $15,800 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 4%
industry: 36%
services: 60% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 28.4% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.8% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 5 million (1999)

Labor force - by occupation: services 60%, industry 30%, agriculture 10% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate: 4.3% (2000 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $48.6 billion
expenditures: $50.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $7.7 billion (2000 est.)

Industries: textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; wine; tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 2.9% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 41.696 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 79.97%
hydro: 17.25%
nuclear: 0%
other: 2.78% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 37.915 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 4.49 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 3.628 billion kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: grain, potatoes, olives, grapes; sheep, cattle, goats, poultry, beef, dairy products

Exports: $26.1 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities: clothing and footwear, machinery, chemicals, cork and paper products, hides

Exports - partners: EU 83% (Germany 20%, Spain 18%, France 14%, UK 12%, Netherlands 5%, Benelux 5%, Italy), US 5% (1999)

Imports: $41 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum, textiles, agricultural products

Imports - partners: EU 78% (Spain 25%, Germany 15%, France 11%, Italy 8%, UK 7%, Netherlands 5%), US 3%, Japan 3% (1998)

Debt - external: $13.1 billion (1997 est.)

Economic aid - donor: ODA, $271 million (1995)

Currency: Portuguese escudo (PTE); euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in Portugal at a fixed rate of 200.482 Portuguese escudos per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002

Currency code: PTE; EUR

Exchange rates: euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January 2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); Portuguese escudos per US dollar - 180.10 (1998), 175.31 (1997), 154.24 (1996)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Portugal on this page is re-published from the 2001 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Portugal Economy 2001 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Portugal Economy 2001 should be addressed to the CIA.