New lisbon regime, but outlook still dim

Portugal's outlook for future economic improvement, in spite of a newly formed government tied to financial stringency, does not appear bright. So reports the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on the struggling country. Its gross domestic product is forecast to shrink to a 3 percent growth in 1982 vs. a 5.5 percent growth in 1979.

Although tourism and repatriated remittances from Portuguese workers overseas both appear to be holding up well, the country's trade deficit is expected to rise by about 14 percent in 1982 to $4.8 billion (US). On the plus side, the country's general credit policy has been tightened; and cabinet posts in the new Balsemao government have been combined in a streamlining operation geared toward hard emphasis on economic and financial improvement.