&NewLine;<h1 class="wp-block-heading">PORTUGAL PRESENTS ITS 2019 BUDGET</h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Everyone in Europe has their eyes on Italy's budget&comma; which seems unacceptable to the&rsquo&semi;Europe&period; But this week&comma; much more discreetly&comma; Portugal has made its 2019 budget public&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In its draft 2019 budget&comma; unveiled 48 hours ago&comma; the Portuguese government plans to reduce its deficit to 0&comma;2&percnt; of gross domestic product&nbsp&semi;&colon; a record for&comma; hold on&comma; 40 years &excl;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>All this with a growth forecast maintained above 2&percnt;&period; Enough to make most European countries dream&period; And this phenomenon is striking&comma; for several reasons&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>First&comma; it's a turnaround &colon; let's look at where this country of 11 million people comes from&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>from 2011 to 2016&comma; Portugal was in crisis &excl; In 2011&comma; everyone was already announcing that after Greece&period; That Portugal was next on the list&period; The country was on the verge of default&comma; subject to a huge austerity cure and 3 years of recession&period; All this with unemployment at 17&percnt; &excl;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In a very short time&comma; everything was reversed&period; <strong>Unemployment is down to 7&percnt;</strong>&period; Forecast for next year &colon; 6&comma;3&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Growth is stable&comma; Exports are back on track&period; Automobiles&comma; Real estate&comma; Textiles&comma; Tourism are driving the economy&period; Foreign investment is up&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Debt remains Portugal's biggest problem <strong>3rd highest in the zone</strong> euro&rpar;&period; But the situation is improving &colon; 130&percnt; of GDP 4 years ago&comma; 118 expected next year&period; As a result&comma; the rating agencies have removed Portugal from the category <strong>"speculative country</strong>&period; Last Friday&comma; Moody's even rated it in <strong><a href="https://vivreauportugalconsulting.com/le-portugal-vers-un-deficite-historiquement-bas-en-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"stable outlook</a></strong>&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It's a spectacular turnaround&period; Good economic news is too rare in Europe to pass up&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A left-wing policy of recovery through consumption</h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>So what does the Portuguese government do to achieve such a result? <strong>For the past three years&comma; Portugal has been doing everything Brussels hates&period;</strong></p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Since 2015&comma; the country has been run by a left-wing coalition &colon; socialist government supported by the communists&comma; ecologists and the local "left front"&period; And not content with calling itself left-wing&comma; it runs a left-wing policy&comma; which has become an "anomaly" in Europe&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In next year's budget&comma; Portugal plans to increase civil service salaries by 3&percnt; create 5 new hospitals and multiple health centers and improve social protection for families&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In the space of three years, the current government has already &colon;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; &nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;Increased the minimum wage&comma; every year&nbsp&semi;&semi;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; &nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;Improved small pensions&nbsp&semi;&semi;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; &nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;Stopped the privatizations demanded by Brussels&nbsp&semi;&semi;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; And reformed the labor code to limit fixed-term&period contracts;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>He also plans to raise taxes on high-income earners&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>It is indeed a left-wing policy</strong>to stimulate demand and consumption, the antithesis of the austerity advocated by Brussels in recent years&period; And it works&excl;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class="wp-block-heading">European discretion</h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The Portuguese right doesn't dispute the good results&period; But for them&comma; these successes are the fruit of the years of austerity that preceded&comma; this austerity that the right had imposed before 2015&period; In short&comma; the Socialists take the laurels to themselves &period; While maintaining a right-wing policy on a key aspect &colon; controlling public accounts&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>At the other end of the political spectrum&comma; the government's Communist partners and the CGT feel that it doesn't go far enough&period; and that small salaries need to be raised even higher&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In fact&comma; everyone is getting ready for the next elections, due to take place in Portugal in a year's time&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>But the most revealing aspect of all is Europe's discretion&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Brussels is careful not to be too ostentatious in its praise of Portugal's results&period;</strong> </p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It is said that this recipe cannot be transposed elsewhere in the Union, because the cost of labor remains very low in Portugal&comma; and because the country remains a land of emigration&period;</p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>This Brussels discretion is above all indicative of a form of embarrassment</strong> &colon; the fact that Portugal is succeeding by doing just about the opposite of what the European Commission is asking&period;</p>&NewLine;
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