The Portuguese are marginally less gloomy about the economy than last year, dropping three places in the raking for those countries with the most depressing outlook. Unsurprisingly, Venezuela is the outright winner this year from a field of 66 strong contenders, with Portugal down to 25th on the ‘misery index’ created by Bloomberg.
A representative sample of each population is asked their views on inflation and unemployment. Inflation is low in Portugal and unemployment dropped below 10% last year and currently is 7.8%.
In 2015, Portugal was in 10th place on the Gloomberg index so the country now is is better positioned than France, Italy and Spain, which comes in a depressing eigth.
Hyperinflation in Venezuela has pushed it to the top spot, in a year in which economists anticipate price growth will exceed 1,800%.
At the opposite extreme, the economies "with less misery" are Thailand, Singapore, Switzerland and Japan.
Bloomberg stresses that the misery index is based an old concept that low inflation and unemployment generally translate to a high level of well-being. However, low scores in these two indicators are not always positive: persistently low prices, for example, may signal weak demand.
Overall, the news agency stresses, the results "signal a positive overall outlook."
Economists anticipate that the world economy will grow 3.7% in 2018, the same pace as last year, which was the highest since 2011.
