Costa highlights that the country “has overcome a chronic deficit situation”. “I understand that I fulfilled my mission well”

This Wednesday, António Costa took stock of the eight years in which he was at the head of the Government, at a time when there are just a few days left until Luís Montenegro takes office as the new Prime Minister, scheduled for April 2nd.

“It was eight years in which we had to face multiple crises and resolve these multiple crises”, António Costa began by saying, referring, for example, to the financial crisis. “Eight years later, we can say that, fortunately, we have a stabilized financial system,” he said.

“We maintained a constant trajectory of improving public accounts”, explained Costa, indicating that we went from a “situation of excessive deficit, in 2015, to a situation of positive balance, in 2023”, despite, he considered, not having been a easy route, he highlighted.

Costa then referred to another crisis that the country, and the world, went through, caused by covid-19. “We have already managed to recover from the impact of the pandemic on our public accounts and we closed 2023 with a positive balance in the budget.”

The outgoing Prime Minister also spoke of “the great, dramatic crisis, having to do with the forest fires, in 2027”. He spoke in the response that was given later, referring to prevention measures, in the context of fighting forest fires, referring to the improvement in reducing the burned area.

He said, however, that “good results” do not allow us to let our guard down in this matter.

He spoke again about the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting that Portugal “is the first country in the world to achieve a vaccination coverage rate of 85%”. He also said that Portugal was one of the countries that emerged best from this crisis, referring to the State’s support for families.

After Covid-19, he spoke about the war in Ukraine, which has been ongoing for more than two years, which has led to the “biggest information crisis in the last 30 years”.

Referring to a “dramatic rise in inflation”, which reached an inflation rate of “10.1% in October 2022”, Costa spoke of a slow trajectory to reach a value of 2.1% in February past.

He then spoke of “structural changes” in these eight years of socialist government, including economic growth. Since 2016 “the reality is quite different”, with an average growth of 2.1%. “In these eight years, the country has grown 10 times more than what it had grown in the previous 15 years”, highlighted Costa.

He then listed several positive economic indicators such as employment and minimum wage, which contributed to a distribution of wealth and an increase in the weight of wages in GDP.

“Over these eight years, the average pension rose 23.3%”, he highlighted, in addition to referring to the “improvement in salaries”. He also indicated the reductions in the IRS and the successive measures to support families, such as free school textbooks, changes in transport and free daycare centers.

The focus then shifted to education, highlighting “a very significant reduction in early school leaving” and “more, more qualified human resources”. He said the number of young people at university is now 54%.

Business investment was also one of the highlights of Costa’s statements.

“Every year we break records in attracting foreign direct investment, in business investment”, which increased 85% between 2015 and 2023. “Those who thought that to be competitive we had to strangle salaries, were clearly mistaken”, he concluded, to say later another good indicator of exports.

He also highlighted decentralization in education, in the area of ​​social action and health, the latter of which has not yet reached 100%.

In the part dedicated to journalists’ questions, Costa said that he was never “worried about brands: Each one will have the souvenir they understand of my governance”.

“I understand that I fulfilled my mission well. Not only having the country overcome a chronic deficit situation… in 50 years of democracy, we have had two situations of positive balance, in 2019 and now in 2023”, he said, later, highlighting, however, that there are always unforeseen events, as if to show the importance of correct accounts.

Still on the positive balance, he said: “fortunately” those who govern and those who oppose “have more freedom”, concludes Costa.

Regarding the choice of location for the new Lisbon airport, the still head of the Government said he hopes there will be a decision now that Luís Montenegro is about to take office as Prime Minister.