This report is intended to give a brief update on Portugal and its economy. All the data referred to hereinafter is based on the National Institute of Statistics issued on December 31, 1994.
Unskilled labor continues to be cheap and plentiful.
The Portuguese economy is based on the principles of free enterprise and private ownership. The state is reprivatizing many of the companies nationalized in 1974's aftermath. EDP, the national electricity company is the next in the government's agenda. Since 1986, the economy has undergone a period of rapid expansion, experiencing in some years real growth rates in GDP of 4 percent or more. The recent internationalization of the national economy associated with the European economic recession has reduced the growth rate.