Portugal's economy explained: GDP data, market trends, business developments, inflation, real estate, and economic policy. Analysis of how economic trends affect daily life and expat finances.
A Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos study finds car-owning lower-middle earners carry the heaviest fuel-tax load relative to income, counts 781 tax breaks with 39 percent never costed, and says IRS is less progressive than it looks.
Employers notified 479 collective dismissals in the first nine months, 15.7 percent more than a year earlier, DGERT figures show. Yet 5,294 workers were let go, 2.2 percent fewer. What the Labour Code says about notice and compensation.
Banks valued homes they were asked to finance at a median 2,278 euros per square metre in September, up 14.2 percent in a year, INE says. The figures by region and flat size, and why the appraisal, not the price, can decide how much you borrow.
The IEA wants members to weigh extra diesel releases from emergency stocks. Portugal, which has completed its March share of about two million barrels, says it will reflect once every country has finished, and analysts warn the cushion is thin.
Councils collected 2,146.7 million euros in IMT in 2025, against 583 million in 2015, budget figures show, as house prices rose about 2.6 times. ECO counts almost 17 billion euros from IMT and stamp duty over ten years. What each tax costs a buyer.
Parliament debates the 2027 budget from 15:00 today and votes on Wednesday, with PS abstention assuring passage. Amendments open on 29 October and close on 6 November; the final vote is on 24 November. Where each party stands.
The CFP's own projection shows a 0.1 percent deficit in 2027, a gap it calls immaterial. It thinks the interest bill is overestimated, notes a central-state deficit of 2.8 percent of GDP, and finds net expenditure breaking the EU limit.
