Companies want to invest more, but are more pessimistic about the future reveals European Investment Bank survey
Portuguese companies are more pessimistic regarding the evolution of the economy than companies in other European countries and think that the barriers to investment in Portugal continue to be too high.
Nevertheless, one in six Portuguese companies admit to investing more, according to a European Investment Bank survey.
The key messages were that Portuguese firms continue to show strong investment intentions and remain more optimistic about the business outlook for their sectors than the EU average.
They are investing more than the EU average in innovation and make more use of AI tools for internal processes.
Portuguese firms are investing more on climate change than in the previous years and are diversifying their import sources to cater for disruptions in value chains.
Perceived barriers to investment remain relevant for Portuguese firms: availability of skilled staff and uncertainty about the future are the main obstacles to investment, followed by business and labour market regulations.
In all cases, these are higher obstacles than for the average of EU firms. Portuguese firms have one of the highest shares in the EU of female representation in leadership roles: 41% of firms have females representing at least 40% of senior management, higher than the EU average of 25%.
The share of Portuguese firms investing in the last financial year is 84% which is in line with EIBIS 2024 (82%) and the EU average of 86%.
The net balance of firms expecting to increase investment in 2025 stands at 16%, which is one of the highest in the EU and significantly above the EU average of 4%.
In net terms, Portuguese firms are increasingly pessimistic about both the overall economic climate and the political or regulatory climate, with the negative balance for the economic climate being worse than the EU average (-45% vs -30%).
Despite this, a net positive balance of firms believe their sector’s business prospects will improve over the next 12 months (14%), which is notably more optimistic than the EU average of 0%. Firms in Portugal are also more positive than the EU average regarding access to both external finance (11% vs 1%) and internal finance (16% vs 9%).
Most of Portuguese firms’ total investment in the last financial year focused on replacement (60%), which is higher than the EU average (54%). Over the next three years, replacement (41%) and capacity expansion (28%) remain the top priorities. The share of firms prioritising expansion is similar to the EU average (28% vs 26%).
The majority of Portuguese firms’ investment is directed towards tangible assets (71%), which is higher than the current EU average (65%).
