General Daily Briefing: Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Using MB Way and Multibanco in Portugal
How to use Multibanco cash machines and MB WAY in Portugal: paying bills by reference, sending money by phone, limits, fees, and fixing problems.
Good morning. Here is your Tuesday briefing for 27 October 2026: the day's essential Portugal stories for residents, immigrants and anyone keeping an eye on the country, below this week's featured guide.
- Budget: Parliament opens the 2027 budget debate at 15:00 today, votes on Wednesday and holds the final vote on 24 November.
- Property tax: councils' takings from IMT, the tax on buying a home, rose from 583 million euros in 2015 to 2,146.7 million in 2025, while IMI barely moved.
- Councils: a Constitutional Court ruling on how wind farms are valued for IMI now hangs over 266 council lawsuits against dam and wind operators.
- Schools: only 12.7 percent of Portugal's school principals are satisfied with their pay, the lowest share in the OECD's TALIS survey.
- Health: ticks were found for a second time this month in an inpatient area of the Vila Real hospital, and some planned surgery is being rebooked.
- Energy: the IEA wants more emergency diesel released; Portugal, which has finished its two million barrel share, will reflect once its partners finish theirs.
The 2027 Budget Goes Before Parliament
The general debate opens at 15:00 today and the first vote follows on Wednesday 28 October, with passage assured by PSD and CDS-PP votes and Socialist abstention. Amendments can be tabled from 29 October to 6 November, ministers are heard in early November, and the final global vote is on 24 November. PCP and BE will vote against.
IMT Receipts Nearly Quadruple in a Decade
Finance Ministry tables show councils collected 2,146.7 million euros in IMT in 2025, against 583 million in 2015, as house prices rose about 2.6 times. IMI, the annual tax on owning a home, went from 1,556 million to 1,612.8 million over the same years. The 2027 budget expects IMT to dip 2.3 percent next year.
A Court Ruling Clouds Councils' Dam and Wind IMI Claims
The Constitutional Court's Acórdão 777/2026 found the method used to value a wind park for IMI unconstitutional. Público reports that it now threatens 266 pending lawsuits in which councils seek the tax from dam and wind operators, with 33.8 million euros at stake in the North alone. Household IMI bills are not affected.
Principals Least Satisfied With Their Pay in the OECD
The OECD's new TALIS report on school leaders finds only 12.7 percent of Portugal's lower secondary principals satisfied with their salary, against an OECD average of 49 percent and down from 27.2 percent in 2018. In state schools it is 8.7 percent. Portuguese principals average 56 years of age and 84 percent report high stress.
Ticks Return to a Vila Real Hospital
The Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro health unit says ticks turned up again in an inpatient area after a first disinfestation earlier this month. Patients were moved to another wing and the area is being treated a second time. No patient was affected, it says; urgent surgery continues, while some planned operations will be rebooked.
More Emergency Diesel? Portugal Waits on Its Partners
The International Energy Agency has asked members to consider releasing more diesel from emergency stocks. Portugal has completed its March share of about two million barrels and says it will reflect on more only once every member has finished. Analysts quoted by ECO warn that each extra barrel thins the emergency cushion.
Also published since yesterday's briefing
- Government Extends Fuel Aid to Private Patient Transport Firms, and Ambulances Call Off Monday's Bridge Protest Read →
- Tomar Brings In a 2 Euro Tourist Tax From 1 November, Charged for Up to Five Nights per Guest Read →
- Portugal's 2027 Budget Plans 63.5 Percent Less Housing Investment as Recovery Plan Money Runs Out, With Council Rehousing Taking the Biggest Hit Read →
- IGAI Launches an Inquiry Into the Police Clearance of the Lisbon and Porto Housing Camps, and the Prosecutor-General Wants Parliament to Review the 1974 Protest Law Read →
- SNS Patients Spent 650 Million Euros on Pharmacy Medicines From January to August, While Hospital Medicine Bills Reached 1,828 Million Read →
- Homeowners May Be Overpaying IMI, DECO PROteste Warns: a Revaluation Request Before 31 December Could Lower Next Year's Bill Read →
- Porto's Centre for Foreigners Facing Removal Gains 80 Beds, Lifting National Capacity to 171 Places Read →
- Portugal Auctions 1,050 MVA of Grid Access for Batteries and Solar, Giving Host Councils Up to 70 Percent of the Proceeds Read →
- Portugal's Fiscal Council Rates the 2027 Surplus Target Plausible, but Sees Spending Breaking the EU Limit Read →
- Unions Suspend the Lisbon Metro's 28 and 30 October Morning Strikes in Protest at a Minimum Service Ruling, While CP's Friday Rail Strike Stands Read →
- Porto Council Weighs Revoking a Vote That Let Seven Developers Pay Cash Instead of Providing Affordable Homes, and Proposes Ending the Option Read →
- Foreign Nationals Make Up Under 4 Percent of RSI Recipients, Social Security Tells MPs, as the Minister Points Pensioners Hit by CGA Cuts Toward the Courts Read →
