Portugal plunged into 37 years of the most severe economic recession

The data show that 11 released by the National Bureau of Statistics of Portugal, the Portuguese economy shrank by 3.2% in 2012, lost since 1975, the most serious economic recession.

2011 the Portuguese economy has shrunk by 1.6%, the accelerated decline mainly due to last year's economic export growth decelerating private consumption is significantly reduced. 2012 Portuguese exports grew by only 3.3%, while the substantial growth of 7.2% in the previous year; private consumption contracted 6.8% in the past year, compared with the 5.8% decline the previous year to further expand.

Analysts believe that the severe tightening of fiscal policy is the main reason for the reduction of domestic consumption. Portugal EU in May 2011, the IMF [microblogging] as well as the European Central Bank to provide 78 billion euros in aid, as the the exchange conditions Portuguese government must perform painful debt reduction measures, including raising taxes and cut wages and pensions.

Portugal, the unemployment rate up to 17.6%, ranked third in the EU member states, after Greece and Spain. The Portuguese government expects the economy will continue to shrink this year by 1.9%.