<hdr>The World Factbook 1994: Portugal<nl>Economy</hdr><body>
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<item><hi format=bold>Overview:</hi> Portugal's economy registered only 1.1% growth in 1992 and contracted by 0.4% in 1993, in contrast to the 4.5% average of the fast-paced 1986-90 period. Recession in the European Union, which accounts for 75% of Portugal's international trade, is the key factor in the downturn. The government's long-run economic goal is the modernization of Portuguese markets, industry, infrastructure, and workforce in order to catch up with productivity and income levels of the more advanced EU countries. Per capita income now equals only 55% of the EU average. The government's medium-term economic objective is to be in the first tier of EU countries eligible to join the economic and monetary union (EMU) as early as 1997. Economic policy in 1993 focused on reducing inflationary pressures by lowering the fiscal deficit, maintaining a stable escudo, moderating wage increases, and encouraging increased competition. Resumption of growth in the short run depends on the revival of growth in Europe as a whole, not a likely prospect in the immediate future.
<item><hi format=bold>National product:</hi> GDP—purchasing power equivalent—$91.5 billion (1993)
<item><hi format=bold>National product real growth rate:</hi> -0.4% (1993)
<item><hi format=bold>National product per capita:</hi> $8,700 (1993)
<item>• <hi format=ital>consumption per capita:</hi> 2,520 kWh (1992)
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<item><hi format=bold>Industries:</hi> textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; wine; tourism
<item><hi format=bold>Agriculture:</hi> accounts for 6.1% of GDP and 20% of labor force; small, inefficient farms; imports more than half of food needs; major crops—grain, potatoes, olives, grapes; livestock sector—sheep, cattle, goats, poultry, meat, dairy products
<item><hi format=bold>Illicit drugs:</hi> increasingly important gateway country for Latin American cocaine entering the European market; transshipment point for hashish from North Africa to Europe
<item><hi format=bold>Economic aid:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>recipient:</hi> US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.8 billion Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $1.2 billion