The central bank did say, however, that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017 is 1.5% lower than in 2008, prior to the recession caused by the international financial crisis.

The Bank of Portugal noted that the increasing internationalisation of the Portuguese economy is being accompanied by a continued positive current trade and capital balance, which should be around 1.8% of GDP in 2017.

Meanwhile, the labour market is expecting to see a 3.1% increase in jobs in 2017, which is going to be 1.5 percentage points higher than the 2016 figures and 0.7 points above the estimate from three months ago, and a decrease in the jobless rate to 9%.