Guides
Opening a Bank Account in Portugal
The documents a Portuguese bank asks for, the low-cost basic account every bank must offer, what accounts cost, and what to do if a bank says no.
Banco de Portugal
Housing
Banco de Portugal Says the Public Mortgage Guarantee for Under-35s Is Already Covering 62% of the State's Allocated Envelope by March — Almost Half of New Youth Mortgages Now Use the Mechanism
Banco de Portugal data show banks have drawn 62% of the state's public-guarantee envelope by March 2026, with almost half of mortgages signed by under-35s now backed by the mechanism. The interior leans on it heavier than Greater Lisbon.
Public Finance
Portugal's Public Debt Climbs Back to 91% of GDP in Q1 2026 — BdP Adds €0.5 Billion in March to €283.2 Billion as the CFP Tells Brussels and Parliament the Government's 2% Growth Forecast Is 'Demasiado Otimista'
BdP puts Q1 2026 public debt at 91% of GDP — 1.3 points above end-2025, €283.2 billion. The CFP separately tells Bruxelas and Parliament the 2% 2026 growth forecast is biased upwards versus IMF 1.9% and BdP 1.8%, and that Portugal overshot the 2025 EU expenditure path.
News
Storm Kristin Credit Moratorium Lapses 28 April — BdP's Five-Business-Day Rule, the PARI Default-Prevention Framework, and Where 7,400 Borrowers Stand on €930 Million of Suspended Credit
The emergency credit moratorium opened in late January for households and companies in the municipalities placed under a state of calamity after Storm Kristin — and extended to cover the subsequent storms Leonardo and Marta — runs out at midnight on...
Finance
Banks Forced to Refund €8.9 Million in Improper Charges — BdP's Behavioural Supervision Logs 33,375 Customer Complaints, 51 Contraventions and a 45% Jump in Illicit Activity Cases
The numbers landed quietly on Friday: in 2025, Banco de Portugal forced the banks to return €8.9 million in improperly charged interest and commissions to their customers, opened 479 investigations into illicit financial activities — a 45% jump on...
Finance
Banco de Portugal Readies Macroprudential Tightening as State-Backed Mortgages Push Average LTV Close to 99% — Santos Pereira's Stress-Test Premium May Double Back Toward 3 Percentage Points
Banco de Portugal governor Álvaro Santos Pereira is preparing the first meaningful tightening of the central bank's macroprudential framework for mortgages since the original recommendation went live in July 2018. According to reporting this week by...