The data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of Portugal on the 11th showed that the Portuguese economy shrank by 3.2% in 2012, stuck into the most serious economic recession since 1975.
In 2011, the Portuguese economy shrank by 1.6% and the accelerated decline mainly due to last year's economic export growth and significantly reduced decelerating private consumption.
In 2012, Portuguese exports grew by only 3.3%, while the figure was 7.2% in the previous year. The private consumption contracted by 6.8% in the past year, a further decline compared with 2011 (5.8%).