Portugal was the second OECD country with the best economic performance in 2022

Portugal was considered the second country of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD – with the best economic performance in 2022, according to 2022’s unlikely economic winners, a ranking prepared and published by the prestigious English newspaper The Economist.

The data reveals that in 2022 the world inflation rate stood at 10%, while the financial markets (stock exchange) saw a 20% slippage. However, and to analyze the economic growth and decline of the 38 countries that make up the OECD, The Economist created a ranking based on five indicators: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation, the extent of inflation, the performance of the stock market and public debt.

The Economist ranked the economies of different countries according to their performance in each variant, thus creating a point system for each indicator. The result of the ranking was unexpected for the authors: for the first time in years, countries like Portugal, Spain or Greece stand out in the chart with high scores at a global level.

This study highlights the extraordinary economic performance of Portugal in 2022, the result of measures implemented by the government, public administration or private bodies that encourage trade and investment and for newly created companies suggest a good economic performance in 2023.

On June 15, 2022, diplomat Manuel Lobo Antunes, representative of Portugal in the Permanent Delegation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in an interview with TSF radio, confided that it was expected – in the middle of a year marked by uncertainties – that Portugal be highlighted in 2022: “in the last report on economic forecasts, for this year and for the next, what is forecast for Portugal is one of the best results, especially in 2022. OECD and, from my conversations, and from the conversations that I have had here, with OECD officials and officials, naturally there are many uncertainties, naturally there are concerns, but the message that they have been giving me is a message that, despite the difficulties, Portugal has good conditions to successfully overcome the difficulties we are all facing”.

The Economist had also highlighted the country’s position in the rankings of the 38 countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), this time through a report presented on March 7, 2022, in which it concludes that Portugal is the 5th best place for women to work is right after Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Norway (in this list of 34 countries Japan and South Korea are in last place as, according to The Economist, they are countries where women almost necessarily have to choose between family life or professional life).

Although Portugal is attracting the attention of its peers at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development due to the position it occupies in different rankings drawn up internationally, there are still negative indicators regarding the tax burden. As an example, refer to the Taxing Wages 2022 report, by the OECD, released at the end of last year, according to which Portugal ranked 10th among the 38 member countries, with the highest tax burden on the average worker (IRS and Social Security contributions paid by the worker and the employer).

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD – was created in 1961 and comprises 38 countries: Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Korea, Costa Rica, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United States, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.