The National Statistics Institute (INE) released new data regarding the Portuguese economy on Tuesday, with the Minister of State and Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, stating that the “significant” revision of public debt is “good news” and “a sign of a prudent and responsible budgetary trajectory.”
However, there is more beyond public debt, as there is also new data on the budget surplus and the gross domestic product (GDP). Here are the four essential points:
1 – Public debt ratio was 93.6% in 2024 (below the estimate)
The public debt ratio stood at 93.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the end of 2024, instead of the 94.9% calculated in March, according to the notification of the Excessive Deficit Procedure submitted to Brussels.
“The gross debt of Public Administrations will have decreased to 93.6% of GDP (96.9% in the previous year),” reads the document released today by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the second notification.
Lusa | 11:55 – 23/09/2025
“The gross debt of Public Administrations will have decreased to 93.6% of GDP (96.9% in the previous year),” reads the document released on Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute.
This figure represents a revision of the results reported in the first notification of the Excessive Deficit Procedure released in March, which indicated that the public debt ratio relative to GDP had settled at 94.9% in 2024, the lowest value since 2009 (87.6%) and below the State Budget forecast of 95.9%.
2 – Portugal records a budget surplus of 1.9% in the 2nd quarter
The Public Administrations (AP) sector recorded a surplus of 1.9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of the year, the National Statistics Institute reported.
Considering the quarterly figures and not the year ended in the quarter, the Public Administrations’ balance in the 2nd quarter of 2025 reached 1.412 million euros, corresponding to 1.9% of GDP, the INE disclosed this Tuesday.
Beatriz Vasconcelos | 11:07 – 23/09/2025
“The AP’s balance in the second quarter of 2025 reached 1.412 million euros, corresponding to 1.9% of GDP, which compares to 2.5% in the same period,” reads the highlights from the statistics office, referring to the national quarterly accounts.
Revenue grew by 4.6% year-on-year, while expenditure increased by 6.3%. In terms of revenue, increases in tax revenues on production and imports (6.6%) and social contributions (1.9%) were notable, while capital revenue grew by 53%, mainly due to the increase in revenue from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
On the expenditure side, notable was the growth in employees’ compensation (7.7%), interest charges (1.9%), social benefit charges (4.7%), and intermediate consumption (2.4%). The expenditure item related to subsidies decreased by 12.2%.
3 – 2024 surplus revised downward
On the other hand, the public administrations’ surplus for 2024 was revised downward from 0.7% to 0.5% of GDP, according to the second notification of the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) published by the INE.
“According to the provisional results obtained in this exercise, the Public Administrations (AP) had a positive balance of 1.451.4 million euros in 2024, corresponding to 0.5% of GDP (1.3% in 2023),” reads the document.
The INE explains that these revisions “result from incorporating information underlying the State General Account and fundamentally from the reprogramming of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), which aimed to extend the deadline for achieving the final goal, ensuring the efficient implementation of investments.”
4 – INE revises GDP growth in 2024 from 1.9% to 2.1%
The INE also disclosed that the Portuguese economy grew by 2.1% in 2024, above the previously estimated 1.9%, according to the annual national accounts released yesterday.
“The Gross Domestic Product reached 289.4 billion euros in 2024, representing a nominal growth of 7.1%, following a 10.8% increase recorded in 2023,” while in real terms, GDP increased by 2.1% in 2024, the document states.
“The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached 289.4 billion euros in 2024, representing a nominal growth of 7.1%, following a 10.8% increase recorded in 2023,” while in real terms, GDP increased by 2.1% in 2024, the document states.
Lusa | 13:25 – 23/09/2025
