THE BANK of Portugal (BdP) has reviewed the government’s forecasts for economic growth downwards to two per cent.
The new value is two percentage points below the 2.2 per cent that the government had predicted and which the BdP had agreed with back in the summer.
Growth is expected to slow because of the record cost of oil, which has reached 100 dollars a barrel. Portugal, heavily reliant on energy from oil and coal, imports nearly all of its oil supplies from countries in the Middle East.
Higher interest rates and costs for raw materials were other factors in reducing Portugal’s expected growth rate.
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