Portugal Economy - 2004

Economy - overview:
Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy since joining the European Community in 1986. Over the past decade, successive governments have privatized many state-controlled firms and liberalized key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and began circulating the euro on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU member economies. Economic growth has been above the EU average for much of the past decade, but fell back in 2001-03. GDP per capita stands at 70% of that of the leading EU economies. A poor educational system, in particular, has been an obstacle to greater productivity and growth. Portugal has been increasingly overshadowed by lower-cost producers in Central Europe and Asia as a target for foreign direct investment. The coalition government faces tough choices in its attempts to boost Portugal's economic competitiveness and to keep the budget deficit within the 3% EU ceiling.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $182.3 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
-1% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $18,000 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 3.7%
industry: 29.3%
services: 67% (2002)

Population below poverty line:
NA% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 28.4% (1995 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
35.6 (1994-95)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.1% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
5.1 million (2000)

Labor force - by occupation:
services 60%, industry 30%, agriculture 10% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate:
6% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $45 billion
expenditures: $48 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

Industries:
textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; wine; tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
-2.2% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
44.32 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 64.5%
hydro: 31.3%
other: 4.1% (2001)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption:
41.48 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
3.479 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
3.743 billion kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
339,800 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
28,830 bbl/day (2001)

Oil - imports:
357,300 bbl/day (2001)

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
2.542 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
2.553 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Agriculture - products:
grain, potatoes, olives, grapes; sheep, cattle, goats, poultry, beef, dairy products

Exports:
$31.13 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
clothing and footwear, machinery, chemicals, cork and paper products, hides

Exports - partners:
Spain 20.3%, Germany 18.4%, France 12.6%, UK 10.5%, US 5.8%, Italy 4.8%, Belgium 4.5% (2002)

Imports:
$43.73 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum, textiles, agricultural products

Imports - partners:
Spain 28.1%, Germany 15%, France 10.2%, Italy 6.5%, UK 5.2%, Netherlands 4.5% (2002)

Debt - external:
$211.7 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - donor:
ODA, $271 million (1995)

Currency:
euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries

Currency code:
EUR

Exchange rates:
euros per US dollar - 0.89 (2003), 1.06 (2002), 1.12 (2001), 1.09 (2000), 0.94 (1999)