LISBON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's economy grew at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018, according to a flash estimate released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) on Tuesday.
In quarter-on-quarter terms, GDP therefore increased 0.4 percent. This represents a quarterly deceleration, GDP having grown at 2.4 percent in Q4 of 2017, and 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter.
The INE attributed the slower pace to reduced demand for exports.
But Prime Minister Antonio Costa said the figures "were in line with expectations," adding that Portugal's results tallied with a general European slowdown.
Indeed the European Union (EU) also announced a flash estimate of Q1 GDP figures on Tuesday, through its statistics agency Eurostat. Eurozone countries grew 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter, the same as Portugal, but 2.5 percent annually.
"The government expects the economy to register a better result for the quarter currently under way," said Costa, who was speaking to journalists at Odivelas, just outside Lisbon, where he was visiting an army barracks.
The government has forecast 2.3 percent growth for 2018. Portugal's GDP grew at a rate of 2.7 percent in 2017.
