The Socialists party MP and member of the PS national secretariat João Galamba said today in a feisty display that his party’s position on the economic figures and the reports put out by the ruling coalition is that they not as good as they are made out to be.
"Portugal emerged from a recession but the crisis continues. It seems that the Prime Minister and the Government have not yet understood the latest figures for the Portuguese economy," said João Galamba.
The Socialist Party considers the economic indicators for Portugal as being 'extremely negative' as the external deficit has worsened, investment is at the same level as it was in 1986 and that export growth may slow.
This afternoon’s press conference was addressed by Galamba who based his comments on the latest figures released by the National Statistics Institute on the development of Portugal’s economy.
Galamba points out that “after a fall of 5.5% in GDP, the anemic growth rate of 0.9% per year in the past three years has been based solely on a rise in domestic demand, in particular due to people buying cars."
Galamba says that this growth rate "is totally untenable, with the external balance this year set to deteriorate by 30%, which demonstrates the absence of any structural transformation of the Portuguese economy."
"But more worrying is investment which has grown only 2.3% rather than the 5% mentioned by Deputy Prime Minister, Paulo Portas. We have an investment that is the 1986 level and have gone back almost 30 years and cannot now recover that productive capacity."
According to Galumba the adjustment process ended with "with job destruction and the destruction of the means of production. Today’s exports are the result of past investment, but unfortunately it seems that future export predictions are based on investment that currently is not being carried out in Portugal."
At the press conference, the Socialist MP also spoke of a favorable external environment arising from the European Central Bank enabling historically low interest rates, but “still, the investment has not started.
"The little investment there is in 2015 is an attempt by companies to maintain their productive capacity," he said, before defending the urgent need "to stop the brutal cuts that have been made over the recent years in public investment."
João Galamba argued that the PSD/CDS government "has done an amazing thing: it has destroyed everything and has created nothing."
At the press conference, the Socialist MP was asked about the behavior Pedro Passos Coelho and his Social Security payment problem, but refused to comment on it. "The Socialist Party already has made statements on the matter. At this point, any information should be given by the prime minister."
