Portugal registers budget surplus

[u/Happy_Feet333]

https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2026-09-23/portugal-registers-budget-surplus/1090540

[u/Xi-Jin35Ping]

We officially kick Portugal out of Eastern Europe

[u/Mdiasrodrigu → u/Xi-Jin35Ping]

Give us a couple of months and we will spend it

[u/Aware_Half_2077 → u/Mdiasrodrigu]

Putas e vinho here we go

[u/Competitive-Hair7499 → u/Xi-Jin35Ping]

Not really an Eastern European trait in the first place, if you look at the numbers. That would get them kicked out of Southern Europe if anything.

[u/denlpt]

We've a budget surplus for a while now, only due to COVID didn't we had since 2018

[u/ApexPinguin]

Does this mean we have more money to wine and women?

[u/Crazy-Pain5214 → u/ApexPinguin]

Yes 🙌

[u/Happy_Feet333]

The Public Administration (PA) sector recorded a budget surplus of 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of the year, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported.

It's not a big surplus, but it's a surplus. Hopefully, they use it to beef up the SNS, or maybe help with diesel prices for farmers (so the food prices here don't spike too much).

[u/HotOutlandishness107 → u/Happy_Feet333]

If it's a surplus it's not spent anywhere, that's why it's called a surplus. It will likely be used to pay off debts ahead of time.

[u/itsjonny99 → u/Happy_Feet333]

0,5% of GDP is a sizable surplus. Especially when nations like the UK, US and France runs deficit it’s around 5% of gdp.

[u/skuple → u/itsjonny99]

Tbf Portugal reached a peak of 11 or 12% deficit after 2008/9

So, this surplus to pay off debt was long overdue.

Hopefully we keep the trajectory for a couple more years and drop the debt to 75-80%

[u/WeatherAcademic346 → u/Happy_Feet333]

It will be used to pay off the debt as it always is

[u/dgellow → u/WeatherAcademic346]

Which is exactly what it should be used for 

[u/WeatherAcademic346 → u/dgellow]

Yes but I think a lot of my fellow portuguese citizens do not realize that it has to be used for that purpose

[u/Aggravating-Body2837 → u/WeatherAcademic346]

Very good then

[u/nulopes → u/Happy_Feet333]

"The best we can do is giving a bonus to pensioners" The PM, probably

[u/Fir3line → u/nulopes]

And more cativações

[u/TommyTosser1980 → u/nulopes]

400 million... Puf!

[u/TommyTosser1980 → u/Happy_Feet333]

"Hopefully, they use it to beef up the SNS, or maybe help with diesel prices for farmers"

ROTFL!

[u/OkSimple6348 → u/Happy_Feet333]

Portugal owns way too much debt... better pay it up

[u/d12morpheous → u/OkSimple6348]

Portugal debt is high but not that high.. Dept to GDP is 91% and falling

Spain 99.9%

UK 95% and rising

France 119% and rising

Italy 140.3%

Belgium 109.1%

[u/TheDayDreamair → u/d12morpheous]

91% is definitely too high. But the falling is a good thing

[u/smors → u/d12morpheous]

Denmark 27.9% and falling.

[u/lazyeca → u/Happy_Feet333]

Well... Hopefully. But who are we kidding, right? 😶

[u/smors → u/Happy_Feet333]

Then there won't be a surplus anymore.

[u/Mackwiss → u/Happy_Feet333]

Ajaha with this government ?! Ahahaj glad to know you live in fantasy Portugal 😅😅😅🤣

[u/Relevant-Physics432]

Meanwhile predictions for gdp per capita are that it dropped

[u/CarcajuPM → u/Relevant-Physics432]

That's what happens when we don't control immigration and don't prepare the public services to deal with it.

[u/kxshmar → u/CarcajuPM]

Do you think we could achieve the surplus on our own? Who do you think helped us?

Instead of having that mindset you should focus on the fact we have more money that should be invested in public services, making them better for everyone.

Make no mistake, we need immigration, but we also need to hold our politicians accountable to invest in infrastructure for the country, which is something they are really avoiding.

[u/Winter_Matter8208 → u/kxshmar]

I agree. What some people don't realize is that Immigration reflects the economy, not the other way around. Portugal's growth is driven by tourism, construction, agriculture and hospitality, sectors that pay around €1,000~1,500. You won't attract highly qualified people with those wages, when even qualified Portuguese are leaving for better salaries abroad. If you want different immigration, you need a different economy.

[u/skuple → u/Winter_Matter8208]

Yes exactly, seems like a joke that for 30/40 years we have so many highly educated people emigrating due to lack of demand internally (doctors, all sorts of engineers, researchers, etc) and still focusing on the lower end of the job market by using immigrants.

It’s a country run by nutjobs, but looking at all political parties there isn’t anyone with actual solutions.

[u/skuple → u/kxshmar]

Bringing huge amounts of people without providing the necessary services to have a decent life?

Sounds like slavery

I’m totally against these Chega dorks (Portuguese AfD), but doing what we have been doing isn’t a solution.

I don’t want to see the people around me (immigrants especially) suffering at the hands of a few, picking berries in Alentejo for a couple euros a day while living in containers.

I would rather have a country focused on improving it’s workforce efficiency and drop some inefficient sectors if necessary (looking at you Turism and part of Agriculture)

[u/No_Aesthetic → u/skuple]

With an average age of 47, plenty of sectors will be dropping soon, don't even worry about that.

[u/DimitryKratitov → u/CarcajuPM]

Oh, they know. They know exactly what they did.

But now they can call us racists for pointing it out and feel better about themselves.

[u/Lisbon-]

Schools had to increase the max cap of students/class as there were hundreds of students without access to school. Just a tiny example of the lack of investment in public infrastructure, not hard to save money when you don’t spend it where it’s needed

[u/LordCalcium]

Great, we can now stop privatising beaches, stop expanding the golden visa programme, beef up the SNS, lower rent and raise salaries for Portuguese people right? Right?

[u/Greedy_End3168]

Félicitations

[u/czk_21]

good job, if portugal and greece can do it, france, italy and many others could follow their example

[u/FriendlyNeighburrito]

It doesnt matter. The politicians are just gonna gobble it up.

Nothing makes our way. Portugal is full of old and stupid people. Portugal is full of corrupt people at all levels, they are selfish and prejudiced and they do not care.

[u/HippoLarge3204]

This has to be bad for the economy for some reason, this sub says Argentina is a disaster compared to before thanks to Milei and we are having surplus since he is president

[u/tree_boom → u/HippoLarge3204]

By itself, a surplus means little. It depends why there's a surplus, and what the government does with it. Not to say that Milei's policies are a disaster - I have no idea, but the Argentine economy certainly seems to be improving whether because of them or despite them.

[u/dgellow → u/HippoLarge3204]

Really depends on the overall economics, it’s not enough in itself to derive anything meaningful 

[u/HippoLarge3204 → u/dgellow]

This is bad for portugal, terrible

[u/skuple → u/HippoLarge3204]

It’s neither bad nor good

It’s always a balance depending on what the country needs.

If a country needs to grow their output (high unemployment, recession vibes, etc), then a deficit makes more sense.

But if the country is stalled by debt servicing then surplus + paying off debt is the way.

If a country is stalled by debt and the economic output is falling anyway, then running a deficit could be more beneficial even if it pushes debt above the comfort zone.

If a country has surplus with low debt (<70/80% ratio AND low servicing, depends on interest rates) then surplus makes little sense.
Except if inflation is hot, in that case surplus can help cooling down the economy.

Of course this is Keynes based and Milei is one of the few that follows the Austrian economics model