In statements made to Lusa, the leading candidate for the PSD/CDS-PP coalition in Portalegre responded to criticism from the socialist leader and former Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs, António Mendonça Mendes. Mendonça Mendes argued on Sunday and Monday that the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) would only not impact the budget balance if it were not executed, a reaction to earlier criticisms from Castro Almeida regarding the Socialist Party’s electoral program.
The minister overseeing PRR execution stated that by forecasting a 0.4% deficit for the next year in its electoral program, the Socialist Party (PS) had “chosen to abandon accurate accounting and is now using these European loans as an excuse.”
“The PS was obliged to know, as the entire country does, that PRR loans count towards the deficit. Therefore, it needed to construct a budgetary plan that could accommodate these loans, just as the PS had done a year ago in its electoral program that anticipated a budget balance in 2026,” he asserted.
Manuel Castro Almeida argued that the PS “could and should” have presented a program without a deficit, maintaining that this “is what the AD will present.”
“The era of budget deficits must end, and the PS made a wrong choice by opting to discard the priority of accurate accounts. This marks a significant difference between the PS’s program and that anticipated by the AD,” he stated.
When asked whether he could guarantee that the AD program, set to be unveiled on Friday in Lisbon, would not anticipate a deficit for 2026, the Minister of State and Territorial Cohesion responded affirmatively.
“The AD is committed to presenting a program with balanced accounts and not with a budget deficit, unlike the PS. It is possible to construct a budgetary program with balanced accounts, despite the PRR loans,” he assured.
The PS’s electoral program, released on Saturday, states that “after measures, the exercise presents balanced budget accounts, a sustained reduction in public debt, and an average growth of primary current expenditure of 4%, in line with nominal GDP growth.”
According to the PS scenario, there would be a surplus of 0.1% in 2025. In 2026, the country would revert to a deficit, forecasted at 0.4%. In 2027 and 2028, the budget balance would be 0.0%, returning to a 0.1% surplus only in 2029, the last year of the legislative term.
