Portugal’s economy lost 8% of activity during General Strike with estimated losses of €792 million

The fall in economic activity during the General Strike lost the country an estimated €792 million according to the Diary of Economic Indicators (DEI) published by the Bank of Portugal.

The data points to a fall of 8% in economic activity on the day of the strike on December 11, despite the Portuguese government calling the stoppage “inexpressive” with the argument that “most of the country” was working.

Data from the BoP shows that economic activity was falling in like-for-like terms across all days of the week that the strike organized by the country’s two largest unions, CGTP and UGT, took place in protest about changes to Portugal’s labour laws.

But it was on the actual day of the strike (December 11) that the fall of economic activity was sharpest at -8%

You would have to go back to April 28 and the ‘blackout’ in which mainland Portugal was without electricity for 12 hours, to find such a significant fall as on the day of the general strike.

The government claimed that the country was largely working on the day of the strike, but the Bank of Portugal figures show this to not be the case.

The DEI summarizes different daily variables such as HGV road traffic on motorways, electricity and natural gas consumption, amount of mail unloaded at the country’s airports, and purchases made with credit cards in Portugal by residents and non-residents.”

Also on the week ending December 14, the DEI registered lower activity compared to the previous week, going from 3% to -3.7%.

And on the day after the strike, the strike called by independent unions representing public sector workers also had an impact, although less. (-3.4%) with the country already recovering from the impact of the previous day’s strike.

TIAGO PETINGA/LUSA
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