The unemployment rate in Portugal is expected to continue increasing in the last six months of the year, with a slight decrease taking place only by mid-2014, according to the studies department of Montepio bank.
In a report released at the beginning of September, the bank’s department stressed that whilst the unemployment rate dropped from 17.6% to 16.7% in the first six months of 2013, this does not mean that it will continue to decline in the future.
Claiming that the drop in the number of jobless people in the country was due to summer’s seasonality, the bank’s specialists believe that a possible decrease will only arrive later, as of spring 2014.
The latest economic indicators in Portugal were also highlighted in the weekly report, which showed that retail sales increased in July, whilst industrial production declined during the same period.
