Portugal unveils draft budget projecting its first surplus in decades
Portugal's government unveiled its draft 2020 budget on Tuesday, projecting the country's first fiscal surplus in 45 years of democracy as solid growth and a promising gentle tax reduction for small firms and a strong one on bullfighting events.
"It is the first budget delivered with a surplus," Portugal's finance minister Mario Centeno told reporters. "Growing, consolidating public accounts, and reducing debt is very rare worldwide."
The envisaged surplus of 0.2% of gross domestic product comes after a projected deficit of 0.1% for 2019.
The surplus will provide an extra push to alleviate Portugal's debt burden. While it is among the highest in the euro zone, it is still expected to drop to 116.2% of the nation's GDP from this year's 118.9%.
On Friday, the Chinese technology company ByteDance said that it would consider listing its domestic businesses in Hong Kong or Shanghai due to rising Sino-U.S. tensions. The company's standalone listing in Hong Kong or Shanghai might value ...
On Friday, Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) announced a lower second-quarter profit because of the recession caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The decline was due to lower sales volume and changes in dealer inventories. During the second quarter ...
Renault SA (RENA.PA) announced on Monday that its global car sales fell by 34.9% in the first half of the year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the company said that it had seen some signs of recovery in June. The French ...
China saw positive customs data on Tuesday, raising hopes that the world’s second-largest economy is on the way to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Exports for June rose 0.5% year-on-year compared to an analysts’ forecast ...
American multinational automaker Ford Motor Co. (F.N) announced on Thursday that its vehicle sales increased by 3% from April to June in mainland China. It would be the first time that the company's first quarterly sales rose in the world's ...