Portugal 2016

ACTIVIDADE ECONÓMICA COMÉRCIO INTERNACIONAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITY INTERNATIONAL TRADE 79 In 2016 the degree of openness of the Portuguese economy, as measured by the ratio of the sum of exports and imports of goods to GDP at current prices, was 60.2%, i.e. declining by 1.1 p.p. from the previous year, after successive increases between 2010 and 2014. Developments in this indicator have been conditioned by the overall economic pace, and there was a noticeable direct relationship between the business cycle and the openness of the economy, with troughs recorded in the degree of openness both in 2003 and 2009. In any case, the long trend translated into an increase in the degree of openness to external trade: in 1995 this indicator stood at 49.0%, compared to the said 60.2% in 2016. In 2016 the EU28 continued to have the highest weight in the destination (75.1%) and origin (77.8%) of trade. These results showed a shift in the downward trend of the EU28’s importance, which was observed since 2000, less markedly in the case of imports. Spain had a weight of 25.9% in exports and 32.9% in imports. France ranked second, with a weight of 12.6% in exports and 7.7% in imports. Germany was the third country, having been the destination of 11.8% of exports and the origin of 13.4% of imports. The United Kingdom ranked fourth, at 7.1% of total exports and 1.3% of imports. As regards Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP in Portuguese), trade with Angola recorded the highest share, although its exports and imports followed a downward trend (this country’s export share was 3.0% in 2016, compared to 4.2% in 2015. Still as regards exports, in 2016 Angola ranked 8th (6th and 4th positions in 2015 and 2014 respectively), which was associated with a -28.5% decline in the value of exports to this country (-33.9% fall in 2015). The other countries with a higher weight in Portuguese goods exports in 2016 and that jointly with the above-mentioned countries made up the ten most relevant markets were the United States (4.9%, 5th position), the Netherlands (3.7%, 6th position), Italy (3.5%, 7th position), Belgium (2.4%, 9th position), and Morocco (1.4%, 10th position). Out of the ten main countries of destination of Portuguese exports seven were European Union countries. The most relevant EU countries for exports also occupied important positions in Portuguese imports, given that they were among the ten most important suppliers. The other countries were China (3.0%, 7th position), Russia (1.9%, 9th position), and Brazil (1.7%, 10th position).