"Portugal looks more like Germany than Spain," according to the view of the Financial Times which recognises that the employment statistics fail to reflect the number of workers who have left the country.The FT discusses Portugal’s almost unique recovery experience but does not lay it on too thick, as many of the workers that have left will never return.
The Financial Times article published today, Wednesday April 4th, analyses some of the key economic indicators in its FT Alphaville blog, dedicated to investors.
The analysis focuses mainly on the Portuguese labour market indicators, based on the numbers published by Eurostat.
"Portugal's experience of the euro crisis was a bad hybrid of Greece and Italy. However, today it is much better than both," reads the article, stating that the
Portuguese labour market, "looks better today than anywhere else since the start of the Eurostat data series in mid-1990."
"This experience is almost unique in the Eurozone. From the point of view of the number of people in employment, Portugal looks more like Germany than with, for example, Spain," the newspaper says.
Another important aspect of the post-crisis situation in Portugal is the national accounts, with the FT highlighting the decline in the deficit, excluding the huge cost of recapitalising Caixa Geral de Depósitos.
The FT sees a more favourable balance of trade in Portugal, with an increase in exports and a reduction in imports and with tourism representing one third of the improvement since 2008.
Although there have been no significant increases in private consumption or public investment, the FT points to an increase in private investment by companies financed by those banks most exposed to the European Central Bank's active buying programme - with more purchases of equipment and machinery in the construction sector.
But, not everything is good news. The FT recognises that the employment statistics used omit the reality of the emigration of Portuguese workers and fewer foreign workers coming to Portugal.
"Hundreds of thousands of unemployed Portuguese have left for parts of the European Union where they have been able to find work, particularly in Germany and the United Kingdom. This flatters the employment rate, but represents a large - and probably permanent - loss of human capital," reads the commentary.
