In an interview with national television TVI, the minister said that the Portuguese economy has "almost stopped" and is "suffering an unimaginable shock" from the pandemic.
"In the current quarter, we may face a year-on-year change in GDP of around 20 percent," Centeno said, but adding that he believes the annual reduction in GDP this year "will not reach double digits."
The economic stop has been taking place in Portugal since mid-February, and if the current situation of containment continues beyond the beginning of May, the annual decline in GDP could approach the 10-percent mark, he said.
Centeno predicted that with the economy "stuck" and in need of state support, public accounts will inevitably suffer and may return to a deficit above 3 percent this year after a surplus of 0.2 percent in 2019.
The pandemic crisis on the public accounts should lead to an impact of between 6 billion euros (6.55 billion U.S. dollars) and 7 billion euros (7.65 billion dollars), representing deterioration in the budget balance between 3 percent and 3.5 percent of GDP.
"We are facing a crisis of a different and temporary nature and what we have to guarantee is that there is money to help with the acute phase of the crisis," he said.
Commenting on the half-trillion European response to the economic crisis, Centeno, president of the Eurogroup, said that "it was a victory for Europe," but assuming that the package "is not the end of the line."
"We will have to continue to address several issues," he said.
Portugal is in a state of emergency from March 19 to April 17.
The country registered 16,934 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 535 deaths as of Monday, according to the daily bulletin of the health authorities.
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