Portugal’s president praises Portugal’s safety, economic growth and good financial housekeeping

Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa praised Portugal’s economic growth and financial stability in New York last week, adding that the country offered “stability and security”.

The president was speaking during a reception for representatives of the Portuguese community and Portuguese employees at the UN in a New York hotel in the presence of Portugal’s Foreign Minister, Paulo Rangel. However, the message was clearly also aimed at a wider audience – particularly US investors and relocators.

Lusa reported him saying: “If you want to talk about the Portuguese economic situation, to say how good we are – and it’s not because your minister is here – the fact is that we have already reached something that was unimaginable, which is not only balanced public accounts, but a surplus,” he said.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa added that Portugal now had the “headache” of arguing over +0.1% or -0.1% on the surplus or deficit and said: “In the past it was other countries that had this sickness, now it’s Portugal”, meaning that in the past Portugal had to worry about much bigger budget deficits than fussing over 0.1%, today.