LONDON: Portuguese exports will rise to almost half of the country's entire economic output over the next few years, the country's deputy central bank governor said on Tuesday.
Exports will rise to 45 percent of gross domestic product within three years, beating last year's record 41 percent, Pedro Duarte Neves told an investor conference in London.
Speaking before him at the conference, Economy Minister Antonio Pires de Lima welcomed the rise in exports but expressed frustration that the pace of growth appeared to have slowed.
"Exports aren't growing as fast as we would like," de Lima said, repeating the government's overall economic growth forecast of 1 percent for this year, which he said will rise to 1.5 percent next year.
Pires de Lima said Portugal remains an attractive destination for foreign investors but admitted that the problems of Banco Espirto Santo, once the country's largest listed lender, was something he could have done without.
"If I could have avoided this, I would. In trying to convince investors to put their money in the Portuguese economy, our task has become harder," he said.
Portugal last month said it would spend 4.9 billion euros to rescue BES after the collapse of the business empire of its founding Espirito Santo family.
Novo Banco took over BES' healthy assets and the government is looking for its quick sale to recoup the bailout funds.
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