In particular, he said, it aims at helping the economy converge with the rest of the European Union.
Costa made the comments in a speech earlier this week to members of the Lisbon area section of the party, at a session in which he outlined the main thrust of the draft budget.
Without directly referring to opposition allegations that the budget – the last of the current parliament - above all is designed to help the Socialists win the general election scheduled for next year, Costa insisted that the bill “is one of continuity” with policies in force since the government took office in late 2015.
As well as ensuring sound finances, he said, it contains a series of future-oriented policies “so that Portugal has a decade of convergence with the European Union.”
Above all, he said, this was in terms of improving the level of qualifications in the workforce, “giving better conditions to the new generations to live in Portugal” instead of emigrating, as well as to “those who create in culture or who research in science.”
Only in this way “can Portugal continue to attract new companies,” he added.
On his way in to the event, Costa declined to answer journalists’ questions about the fact that the parliamentary budget support unit, UTAO, had on the basis of data contained in the 2019 budget, projected a deficit of 0.5 percent equivalent to gross domestic product rather than 0.2 percent as the government foresees, due to what it calculated as €590 million in spending in excess of what the government has stated.
In his speech, Costa restated the 0.2 percent deficit figure, saying he was proud that in previous years the public accounts had always been “correct”.
He went on to stress “two new core areas” of budget policy - the reduction in prices for public transport and housing – and attacked the previous government for making what he called “blind cuts” to improve the public finances, and moving to privatise key transport enterprises.