The forecast from the central bank of Portugal is more optimistic than that of the International Monetary Fund, which expects a 10 percent contraction of Portuguese national GDP, and the European Commission, which expects a 9.3 percent economic activity retraction in the country, as well as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which points to a drop of 8.4 percent.
If a third wave of pandemic is upon Portugal, Mario Centeno, governor of the bank, expected that the country's economy could perform better as lessons have been learnt and vaccines would soon be available.
Centeno predicted for Portugal "a clear gradual recovery of the economy as of the second quarter in 2021."
The central bank expected the Portuguese economy to grow by 3.9 percent in 2021. For the year 2022, the forecasted growth is 4.5 percent.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, countries including France, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are racing to find a vaccine.
According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Dec. 8, there were 214 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 52 of them were in clinical trials.
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