The deputy prime minister, Paulo Portas, long has championed Portugal’s exporters and seems to have backed a winner as the latest export figures are indeed pointing in the right direction.
Portas commented today on data released by the National Statistics Institute which showed a first quarter 4% increase in exports which, combined with a fall of 1.4% in imports, has brought cheer to his otherwise troubled dossier.
"The first quarter numbers are very positive and if they continue in the following quarters it will mean that Portugal is heading for a new export record," said Paulo Portas, adding cheery comments such as "a very encouraging sign" and "the very significant acceleration of exports in the quarter” stating that these figures are "a sign of modernisation in the economy."
"In fact, exports are growing in the best year ever and have not stopped growing as some skeptics have rushed to say," he added.
The minister took the opportunity to have a pop at those who pounced on the January decline in exports as setting the trend for the year,
"I always said that exports in 2015 would return to make this the best year ever.”
The first quarter figures to not yet include invisible exports such as banking and insurance services but there normally are in surplus.
The minister said the sectors that had shone were optical (+11%), food products (+9.8%), mineral products (+7%), and vehicle exports (+6.4%).
"This means that the Portuguese export sector is frankly resilient to fluctuations in the oil price. There are many sectors which are growing and growing solidly," Portas said.
Portugal’s imports fell 1.4% in the quarter but increased a worrying 10.1% in March, year on year. Paulo Portas explained that "imports themselves do not signal a problem, part is for investment and the performance of exports is resilient."
According to the Institute, by the end of March Portugal’s balance of payments deficit dropped by €661.3 million, to €1.9687 billion, and the coverage rate increased by 4.4%, to 86.1%.
The coalition will have viewed David Cameron’s Conservative victory in the recent UK elections with envy as a booming domestic economy appears to have swung voters to Cameron’s right of centre agenda.
With Portugal’s economy now showing signs of life the coalition needs a turnaround in business profits and a sharp increase in employment to induce the same political polarisation as happened in the UK.
Happily for Portas, his biggest trump card for re-election remains a lack of credible alternatives for voters.
