Politics: a stable context
Confirmed as Prime Minister in early 2022, with a comfortable socialist majority in Parliament, Antonio Costa has benefited from the success of his choices: a demand-driven recovery policy, supported by a social policy. Since taking office in 2015, he had committed to turning the page on austerity: he raised the minimum wage, reviewed the pay of civil servants and the pension system. Household consumption has increased, benefiting in particular from programs to combat precariousness. The revival of export-oriented industries (automotive, footwear, textiles) has supported the recovery, while Portugal has welcomed a growing number of foreign companies willing to invest. Chinese investment groups have become shareholders in Portugal's largest insurance company, the REN electricity network and the country's largest private bank. The service sector (68.3% of the active population) confirms its dominant position in the Portuguese economy through its main activity, tourism, which has grown from 6.5 million visitors in 2009 to 12.8 million in 2018. A spectacular figure if we compare it to the Portuguese population (10.3 million inhabitants).
Economy: a great dynamic
On the verge of bankruptcy in 2011, Portugal has managed, in a few years and unlike other southern European countries, to reduce its budget deficit and unemployment (17% in 2014, slightly more than 6% in 2021), attract investors and return to sustained growth (4.9% in 2021, a record since 1990). This unexpected recovery, described as the "Portuguese miracle", needs to be qualified, as certain imbalances remain. Tourism, which was booming, was hit hard by the health crisis, and it is also developing perverse side effects, the most important of which is the surge in real estate prices. The visible consequence is that the inhabitants, especially from the middle classes, are being expelled from the city centers. More surprisingly, the country has become a paradise for start-ups and digital nomads, who have chosen Lisbon as the venue for the annual Web Summit. However, the Portuguese minimum wage, although raised, remains low (€822) compared to that of some of its European neighbors, and still fails to convince young graduates, geeks or not, to stay and work in the country... In the energy field, Portugal is still very dependent on fossil fuel imports (74.2% of imports in 2019), but it is developing an ambitious solar power plant program and is one of the first countries in the world to aim for carbon neutrality by 2050! Alentejo is home to one of the two largest power plants in the country: it is located in Amareleja (Beja district), and covers 250 hectares. At full capacity, its 262,000 photovoltaic panels have a maximum output of more than 46 MW, enough to supply 30,000 homes!
