Portugal is the second country in the European Union that registered the highest growth in the first three months of this year, according to new estimates by Eurostat.

In addition, previous estimates showed Portugal was in the top spot when there was data for just 12 countries – with growth of 1.6%. However, the country is now trailing Poland which recorded growth of 3.9%.

In terms of global growth, the eurozone grew by an average of 0.1% compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Whereas the European Union’s GDP rose by 0.2%, a figure that was subsequently revised downwards in comparison to the 0.3% figure indicated at the end of last month, The Portugal News reports.

As previously published by Portugal’s office for national statistics, the Instituto Nacional de Estatística, the country’s GDP grew by 1.6% at the start of the year, surpassing economists’ expectations. The recovery was primarily due to stronger-than-forecast momentum in exports and tourism.

The only country ahead of Portugal in this ranking is Poland, which grew by 3.9% in Q1 this year, compared to the last three months of 2022. As well as these two countries, just Finland registered chain growth over 1% at the beginning of the year, coming in at 1.1%.

Earlier this week, the European Commission published the spring economic forecasts, where it upwardly revised the projections for Portugal’s economy, The Portugal News report goes on to say.

The Commission forecasts Portugal’s GDP will grow by 2.4% in 2023, which is “twice the EU” level, as highlighted by the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni.