After all political vows to contrary, country is at increased risk through winter
After all the political posturing on how little Portugal relies on Russian gas, the truth is that it will still be one of the worst affected countries in Europe when it comes to ‘fuel poverty’ this winter.
This is because it has very little to do with where gas comes from. It is more a question of how much citizens have to pay for it in relation to their available income.
According to the European Commission macroeconomic forecasts of October, the only countries more at risk of energy poverty than Portugal are Lithuania, Croatia, Latvia and Romania.
Even before the energy crisis, Portugal was standing out for its level of energetic poverty. Back in 2019, Lusa reported “Portugal is among the worst countries in Europe for energetic poverty”, by dint of poorly constructed homes, with next to know proper isolation, and ‘inefficient means of heating’ (like oil radiators and open fires).
Reading between the lines, all the forecasts are that the cost of living crisis in this country will get worse before it gets better.
The government’s own forecast of 7.4% inflation this year has already been revised upwards by Brussels today (to 8%), while the October figures have come in from INE statistics institute, suggesting inflation last month was running at 10.1%.
