Portuguese Republic

República Portuguesa Portuguese Republic


Anthem A Portuguesa


Capital	Lisbon

Government	Republic and parliamentary democracy
President
- From 2011	Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Prime Minister
- From 2011	José Sócrates

Legislature	Assembly of the Republic

History
- October 5, 1910	Monarchy abolished
- April 25, 1974	Carnation Revolution

EU accession	January 1, 1986

NATO accession	April 4, 1949

Area	92,090 km²

Population
- February 2011	10,647,267
Density	115.6/km²

GDP	February 2011 (PPP)
- Total	US$ 234.5 billion
- Per capita	US$ 22,027

Currency	Euro

NUTS Region	PT1

Portugal
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The Portuguese Republic is a parliamentary democracy in Europe.

Background

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. In January 2011, Portugal assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2011-12 term.^[1]

Economy

Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy since joining the European Community in 1986. Over the past two decades, successive governments have privatized many state-controlled firms and liberalized key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and began circulating the euro on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU member economies. Economic growth had been above the EU average for much of the 1990s, but fell back in 2001-08, shrank 2.6% in 2009, before growing 1% in 2010. GDP per capita stands at roughly two-thirds of the EU-27 average. A poor educational system and a rigid labor market have been obstacles to greater productivity and growth. Portugal also has been increasingly overshadowed by lower-cost producers in Central Europe and Asia as a target for foreign direct investment. Portugal's competitiveness problems, low growth prospects, and high levels of public debt have made it vulnerable to bond market turbulence. Lisbon is implementing austerity measures to reduce the budget deficit from 9.4% of GDP in 2009 to 4.6% of GDP in 2011, but some investors have expressed concern about Portugal's ability to achieve these targets and cover its sovereign debt. Without the option for stimulus measures, the government is focusing instead on boosting exports and implementing labor market reforms to try to raise GDP growth and tackle Portugal's competitiveness problems, which may help mitigate investor concerns over time.^[2]