The IMF now expects the Portuguese economy to grow 1.7% this year, below the 1.8% it estimated in November 2018, and anticipates a slowdown of 1.5% in 2020.

The forecasts are included in the World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday.

The IMF also forecasts an unemployment rate of 6.8% this year, above the previous estimate of 6.5% and higher than the government's estimate of 6.3%.

For 2020, the IMF expects unemployment to drop to 6.3%. It has maintained its November estimate for the deficit, which it expects will sit at 0.4%.

The government expects a deficit of 0.2% of GDP following the 0.5% seen in 2018, the best in the country's democracy.

The IMF revised down its estimate for world GDP growth to 3.3% in GDP, 0.2 percentage points lower than its estimate in January, and maintained its forecast for a 3.6% expansion in 2020.