Lisbon, Feb 1 (IANS): The Portuguese economy grew 6.7 per cent in 2022, its best performance since 1987, according to an estimate released by the country's National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Portuguese gross domestic product (GDP) growth was above the 6.5 per cent estimated in the State Budget for 2023 (OE2023) in October last year, reports Xinhua news agency.

The expansion of the Portuguese economy was 1.2 percentage points higher compared to GDP growth in 2021, consolidating a strong recovery after an historic drop of 8.3 per cent in 2020 due to the effects of the Covid pandemic.

Domestic demand significantly contributed to the annual variation in GDP, although to a lesser extent than that observed in the previous year, due to an acceleration of private consumption and a slowdown in investment.

The contribution of net external demand was positive in 2022, after being negative in 2021, with an acceleration in the volume of exports of goods and services and a deceleration of imports.