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Portuguese president optimistic regarding Eurostat unemployment figures

Xinhua, May 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said on Tuesday he was optimistic regarding the country's unemployment figures, suggesting that they "seem to confirm economic growth."

The president's remarks come after Eurostat revealed that Portugal's unemployment rate saw one of the biggest decreases in the eurozone in March, falling to 9.5 percent from 10.2 percent in the previous month.

"Following Croatia, Portugal saw the best evolution in terms of employment," Rebelo de Sousa said at the sidelines of a visit to Lisbon's armed forces central hospital. "It is a great (source of) joy, especially coming from Eurostat which is always rigorous in the statistics it presents."

Rebelo de Sousa added that unemployment and growth figures at the end of 2017 would surpass expectations of the government, the Bank of Portugal, European institutions and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Prime Minister Antonio Costa also expressed his optimism at the country's improved unemployment figures last week, claiming that the figures reflected that the government's economic policy had been successful.

According to figures released last week by the country's statistic agency, Portugal's unemployment rate fell below 10 percent in February for the first time in eight years.

Antonio Costa was sworn in as prime minister in November 2015, and since then tens of thousands of jobs have been created and the International Monetary Fund has forecast that the deficit will fall below 3 percent of GDP in 2016. However growth was at a moderate 1.2 percent in 2016 and public debt still exceeds 130 percent. Enditem