This report has been prepared to provide a general overview and assessment of the performance of the Portuguese economy under the EU/IMF adjustment programme and the remaining challenges ahead. Portugal's recent exit from the Programme implied the lapsing of the 12th and final review of...

Structural reforms to labour and product markets help to improve economic growth prospects and the ability of economies to adjust to shocks by expanding flexibility and improving the efficiency of how and where productive factors are used. The recent financial and economic crisis prompted EU...

This brief reviews developments in poverty across EU countries after the crisis and analyses their main macro drivers. Poverty increases were recorded mostly in terms of severe material deprivation and low work intensity rates starting from 2010 and were concentrated in those countries most...

A joint EC/ECB/IMF mission met with the Portuguese authorities in Lisbon between 20 February and 28 February 2014 to assess compliance with the terms and conditions set out in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), as updated following the 10th Review of the Portuguese Economic Adjustment...

This paper proposes a methodology for benchmarking unemployment benefits systems, with a view to assess reform needs and priorities. The methodology permits to assess different dimensions of unemployment benefit systems and to consider alternative relevant benchmarks. Looking at all relevant...

In the past decade, a series of EU countries have witnessed absorption booms and growing current account deficits as a result of falling risk premia and rapid financial integration. At the same time, fiscal policy in those same countries has not been leaning against the wind effectively so as to...

This paper compares alternative methodologies for estimating real exchange rate misalignment for EU countries. It is shown that current account-based approaches (based on NFA stabilization and current account norms) and relative-price based approaches (BEER and PPP-based) deliver broadly...