"I hope that can happen. At the moment, given the macroeconomic scenario, we are not proposing [wage increases] and I don't think we can," said the minister.

Alexandra Leitão was speaking at the end of the first negotiation round with the unions regarding the annual general negotiation.

"What I expressed within the meetings is that it is the wish of the Ministry of Public Administration and, in general, the Government, that we could have generalised increases, namely in line with the 1% that was referred to in October 2019 and which ended up not materialising", but "the macroeconomic scenario does not yet allow us to do so", said the minister.

The official indicated that in January there will be an increase in the national minimum wage, which will also have an impact on the Public Administration.

This is the first round of negotiations with the unions, with another scheduled for Thursday.