Portugal's public accounts show a first-half deficit as revenues lag behind spending
The National Statistics Institute released figures showing that Portugal's total revenue grew slower than its total expenditure, resulting in a deficit for the first half of the year.
Portugal's Instituto Nacional de Estatística published its first-half fiscal results, revealing that total revenue rose but remained below the pace of total public expenditure. The first quarter posted a fiscal gap, and cash-flow accounting for the six-month period confirms a deficit. BPI Research's analysis links the shortfall to higher spending growth compared with revenue growth and highlights early-year weather events and the war in the Middle East as complicating factors.
The institute's figures differ from those of the budgeting authority because they follow national accounting rules used by European institutions. The report also mentions upcoming data on household savings and includes comments from Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento about expectations for a near-zero balance this year and a modest surplus next year.
