Portugal 2014
Yearbook 2014
Portugal. Portugal population in 2020 is estimated at 10,196,720. Portuguese football legend Eusébio da Silva Ferreira died in January at the age of 71. Eusébio was one of the biggest football stars of the 1960s and took Portugal to the World Cup bronze in Italy in 1966. Tens of thousands of people followed his funeral.
New figures in February indicated that the country’s economy was starting to recover, mainly due to increased exports and a rise in the tourism industry. Domestic demand also seemed to grow. In May, Portugal left the euro area support programs to start standing on its own. This is despite the fact that the economy was still considered fragile and central government debt was at 129% of GDP. Over the previous three years, Portugal had borrowed € 78 billion from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stay afloat.
In the European Parliament elections in May, the Socialist Party (PS) received 31.3% of the vote, while the Alliance Portugal, which consisted of the Socialist Democrats (PSD) and the Democratic and Social Center People’s Party (CDSPP), gained 28%. The United Democratic Coalition, consisting of the EU-critical Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Ecological Party the Greens, gained almost 13%.
Parliament voted in July to cut salaries for civil servants earning more than € 1,500 a month. The country’s largest trade union protested the decision through a demonstration outside Parliament. In August, the government saved the country’s largest private bank, Banco Espírito Santo, in the amount of € 3.9 billion to avoid a major economic collapse.
According to topb2bwebsites, Lisbon’s Mayor António Costa became the new leader of the Socialist Party in September. Interior Minister Miguel Macedo resigned in November following a corruption scandal within the country’s immigration authority. Foreign investors, according to the allegations, must have been granted a so-called golden visa that gives the holder the right to settle in Portugal for five years.
Former Prime Minister José Sócrates was arrested the same month on suspicion of corruption, tax fraud and money laundering. Sócrates refused a crime, and since the investigation was covered with confidentiality, it was unclear whether the crimes would have been committed during his time in power.
In the course of a week in November, five people died in an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. The WHO talked about the outbreak as a serious public health emergency.
September
Portugal tightens corona restrictions
September 10
The Portuguese government is now tightening the corona restrictions in connection with the start of school. It hopes to thereby be able to stop the increased spread of infection in society. In future, a maximum of ten people will be allowed to meet at the same time, a halving compared to previous rules (however, these restrictions have been in force in the area around Lisbon since July). All alcohol sales will be stopped after eight in the evening, and it will also be forbidden to drink alcohol in public places. This is happening since the number of cases has increased rapidly in Portugal since the end of August. On September 9 alone, 646 new cases were reported. of covid-19. Most of those infected now are between 20 and 39 years old and show no symptoms. To date, Portugal has had just over 62,000 confirmed cases of the viral disease, and 1,852 people have died in covid-19.
August
Corona pandemic hits Portugal hard
August 14th
The Corona pandemic is hitting the Portuguese economy hard. During the second quarter of 2020, GDP is estimated to have fallen by almost 14 percent. This means that GDP decreased by more than 17 percent during the first half of the year. An important reason for the decline is reduced domestic consumption. The fact that fewer foreign tourists visit Portugal is another important reason for the decline. Tourism normally accounts for almost a fifth of the country’s GDP.
