The Portuguese economy had the third highest growth in the European Union in the first quarter of the year. The national GDP rose 1.6% compared to the previous three months, according to data published by the European statistics office Eurostat. The Eurozone, however, entered a technical recession.

Between January and March, the growth of Portugal's chain economy was only behind Poland (+3.8%) and Luxembourg (+2%). In the opposite direction, the Irish economy registered the greatest brake, falling by 4.6% compared to the period between October and December 2022.

On the European average, the economy grew by 0.1%, returning to positive territory after the 0.2% decline in the previous quarter. On average for the euro zone, however, the economy stalled for the second consecutive quarter, with minus 0.1%. This means that it has entered a technical recession.

Year-on-year, Portugal had the sixth best performance in the first quarter of the year. The Portuguese economy increased by 2.5%, once again slowing down the pace of growth compared to the previous three quarters. In this comparison, Portugal was behind Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Romania and Croatia. Estonia took the biggest hit, falling by 3.7%.