Portugal was the 11th country among the European Union members that spent the most on measures to mitigate energy prices from September 2021.
The 27 countries of the European Union have already spent a total of 681 billion euros on measures to try to curb rising energy costs. The amount is equivalent to more than eight times the Troika loan to Portugal in 2011. Portugal is in 11th place among the countries that have injected the most money in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP), according to the Bruegel Institute analysis.
The Belgian think-tank has counted all the measures implemented – and even those just announced – to halt the rise in energy prices between September 2021 and January 2023.
If we look at the ratio between the amount spent and the annual GDP, Slovakia leads the table, with measures that corresponded to 9.3% of its GDP. In this league, Portugal is in 11th position, with instruments such as the Iberian mechanism to limit the price of gas for electricity production or support for more energy-intensive industries.
In the total budget for curbing prices, Germany is in first place with 268.1 billion euros, almost three times as much as Italy (99.3 billion euros) and France (92.1 billion euros). In this domain, Portugal wi
Germany’s lead is due, for example, to the nationalization of the Uniper gas group and the local subsidiary of the Russian Gazprom group.
Portugal is ranked worst in the per capita expenditure accounts. In this scenario, Portugal is in 15th place, with 862 euros per citizen and the equivalent of 4.2% of GDP per capita. Luxembourg is the country that spent the most per citizen (3,765 euros).
Outside the European Union, the UK a total of 103 billion euros in these measures; Norway used 8.1 billion euros.
