How stable is the economy in Portugal?
Portugal has benefited greatly from membership of the EU, which it joined in 1986, becoming a diversified and increasingly service-based economy. Portugal is a peaceful and comfortable place to live. The services sector now contributes nearly two-thirds of Portugal’s GDP, with agriculture making up around six per cent and industry the rest. The countrys main exports are machinery and equipment, clothing, wood and cork, footwear, mining equipment and wine. Over the past decade, successive governments have privatised many state-controlled firms and liberalised key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. In recent years, Portugal has had one of the fastest-developing economies in the EU. However, post-EU enlargement, it is under increasing pressure from less developed countries in the east, with cheaper workforces, which look likely to attract investment that might otherwise have flowed into Portugal. Relations with the UK have always been good, and t
