Portugal

Following its heyday as a global maritime power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence of its wealthiest colony of Brazil in 1822. A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades, repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
• Central bank discount rate: 3% (31 December 2008)
• Commercial banks lending rate: 8.35% (31 December 2008)
• is part of the Eurozone

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	121 662	112 650	115 712	127 455	156 413	178 952	185 454	195 015	223 337	243 497
Govt. debt (% of GDP)	60.581	60.248	60.978	65.245	67.166	70.836	74.452	73.234	71.134	76.018
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)	34.624	34.925	34.473	35.532	36.960	39.538	37.887	38.458	39.109	39.213
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)	38.802	38.735	39.627	40.082	41.195	42.125	43.284	42.181	41.605	42.919
Debt to revenue (years)	1.750	1.725	1.769	1.836	1.817	1.792	1.965	1.904	1.819	1.939

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

External links

• Portugal on Wikipedia
• Central bank of Portugal
• Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
• BBC country profile