nate John N. PALMER embassy: Avenida das Forcas Armadas,
1600-081 Lisbon mailing address: PSC 83, APO AE 09726
[351] (21) 727-9109 consulate(s):
Flag description: two vertical bands of green (hoist side, two-fifths)
and red (three-fifths) with the Portuguese coat of arms centered on the
dividing line

Economy Portugal

Economy - overview: Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly
service-based economy since joining the European Community in
1986. Over the past decade, successive governments have privatized many
state-controlled firms and liberalized key areas of the economy, including
the financial and telecommunications sectors. The country qualified for
the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and began circulating its new
currency, the euro, on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU member
economies. Economic growth has been above the EU average for much of
the past decade, but GDP per capita stands at just 75% of that of the
leading EU economies. The government has failed to reign in a widening
deficit and to advance structural reforms needed to boost Portugal's
economic competitiveness. A poor educational system, in particular, has
been an obstacle to greater productivity and growth. Portugal has been
increasingly overshadowed by lower-cost producers in Central Europe and
Asia as a target for foreign direct investment.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $174.1 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.7% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $17,300 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3.8% industry: 30.5% services:
65.7% (2000)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 28.4% (1995 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 35.6 (1994-95)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.4% (2001 est.)

Labor force: 5.1 million (2000)

Labor force - by occupation: services 60%, industry 30%, agriculture 10%
(1999 est.)

Unemployment rate: 4.4% (2001 est.)

Budget: revenues: $45 billion expenditures: $48 billion, including
capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

Industries: textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork;
metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; wine; tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 2.4% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production: 43.242 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 70.03% hydro