Lisbon, Jul 26 (IANS): Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that the country's economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic crisis will be done "with an eye to the future".

"For this reason, the two great engines of this recovery are to face two major challenges that lie ahead -- the climate transition and the digital transition," he said on Sunday.

What's more, he said, the country has an "ambitious program" to ensure decent housing for the poorest, as well as "affordable housing for the middle class, in particular the new generations and students who need to move to attend university", reports Xinhua news agency.

The Portuguese head of government referred to an expected investment of 2.75 billion euros ($3 billion) foreseen in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) for the "immediate revival of the economy," as well as "solving a structural problem in the country", which is housing.

"If we want to keep the new generations among us, we have to ensure conditions so that the new generations can have autonomy in life and live among us.

"We have to create conditions for the new generations to become autonomous and to be able to build the family they want to build," Costa said.

The Prime Minister noted that investments will be made to improve energy efficiency and the re-industrialisation of Portugal after the Covid-19 crisis.

Portugal has registered 17,292 deaths and 953,059 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

Over 47 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated, according to the country's health authorities.