The Portuguese economy even surpassed the average of the European Union and the Euro Zone, both with a GDP variation of 0.5%, and the OECD (1.6%), having only been surpassed by Costa Rica (5.1%), Mexico (3.1%), United States (2.5%) and Spain (2.5%), according to data from INE and reported by ECO.

It should be noted that, although Portugal is among the five countries with the highest GDP growth, economic growth slowed down significantly from 6.8% in 2022 to 2.3% in 2023.

“Initial annual estimates indicate that OECD GDP growth slowed to 1.6% in 2023, compared to 2.9% in 2022, in a context of higher underlying inflation in the OECD area”, according to the same report.

Among the 27 OECD countries for which data is available (11 member states do not yet have information), 10 have recorded a GDP contraction in 2023, with Estonia recording the largest contraction (-3.0%). In 14 countries, growth slowed but remained positive.

Only three economies recorded higher growth in 2023 compared to the previous year: Costa Rica (5.1% in 2023, compared to 4.6% in 2022), the United States (2.5% compared to 1.9% ) and Japan (1.9% compared to 1%).