“2023 is going to be a very difficult year. Nobody knows how difficult. It depends on whether the war lasts a long time or lasts a short time, it depends on whether the effects of the war remain very high or not, it depends on whether inflation starts to go down or not, it depends on solving energy problems and the cost of energy”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, considering that “everyone is aware that it will be worse than 2022”.

The head of state commented, in Leiria, on the report with world economic forecasts released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

In the document, the OECD predicts that Portuguese economic growth will slow from 6.7% this year to 1% in 2023 and 1.2% in 2024, with inflation standing at 8.3% in 2022, 6.6% in 2023, and 2.4% in 2024.

“Real GDP [Gross Domestic Product] growth is expected to decline from 6.7% in 2022 to 1% in 2023 and 1.2% in 2024, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supply chain disruptions, rising energy prices, and the increase in interest rates penalising activity”, reads the report.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that he had recently received the president of one of the major groups in the automotive industry, who told him that “car sales had already begun to slow down in America and Europe and that he predicted that the economic situation in the first half of the year would be a problem.”