The head of government responded to the sole deputy of Livre, Rui Tavares, in the debate in parliament on general policy. The Livre deputy asked António Costa if he could guarantee that, in the event of a recession in 2023, the Government “changes its target of the share of wages in GDP [Gross Domestic Product], revising upwards and increasing the share of salaries”.

In response, Costa said that “Portugal will continue to grow. On the contrary, the scenario we have is that Portugal will continue to grow, obviously at a slower rate than this year 2022, and that we will continue to converge with the European Union and we hope that this convergence will also take place with the convergence of wages, and what’s more, that wage growth will continue to support the growth of the Portuguese economy, as has been the case since November 2015”, he underlined.

Sustained growth

The prime minister stated that “from 2015 to today, nominal GDP has grown by 20%” and that this “has been the country’s sustained growth trajectory”.

“Unfortunately, growth is not linear and even in 2020 and 2021 we have already surpassed the 48% share of wages in GDP, not because wages have grown, but because GDP has sunk. And therefore, this is not the trajectory, the trajectory is the growth of the share of wages in GDP in a scenario of convergence with the European Union”, he added.

Costa said that that scenario was presented "with all seriousness" in the electoral program and was maintained in the Government's program but, he stressed, "obviously it has to be adjusted in the face of reality".