Speaking in Castelo Branco, in north central Portugal, Passos Coelho cited official figures that show GDP in the three months to March was up 0.4% on the previous quarter and up 1.5% on the same period of 2014.


Before the crisis, he stressed, Portugal's economy "was always diverging", that is it grew at a rate that was slower then the euro-zone average. That, he added, means that compared with other countries sharing the common currency "we became relatively poorer than them for almost 10 years."


The prime minister also cited more recent figures from the Bank of Portugal's latest economic bulletin, released on Monday, that showed the growth coming in part thanks to the effect of income generated by employment.


Despite the economic problems of Angola, one of Portugal's main markets outside the EU, the country had managed to continue to expand its exports of goods, he noted.