Portugal’s development bank to allocate €10Bn in Trump tariff offset measures

The President of Portugal’s Development Bank – Banco Português de Fomento – has been mandated by the country’s Minister of the Economy, Pedro Reis, to disburse €10Bn in support funds to offset the effects of US tariffs.

The funds, allocated to help companies expand to new markets and become less reliant on the United States (currently Portugal’s 4th biggest overseas market), will be divided into four parcels.

In an interview with CNN Portugal and ECO, the bank’s recently-appointed president, Gonçalo Regalado, said that the majority of companies in Portugal were exceedingly well-prepared for their export markets and this could be seen from the fact that in 10 years the value of GDP from exports had shot up from 30% to 50%.

And the Portuguese State, through its development bank, was doing its bit to support Portuguese companies that export to the US at the moment.

“We know that around 3,400 companies, representing around 1% of all Portugal’s companies, export to the US, employ 9% of the workforce, and are responsible for 14% of business turnover, and 40% of Portugal’s total overseas exports,” he said.

“Therefore, we need to provide these companies with cashflow, confidence, and above all the necessary instruments that they need to search out new markets, diversify to other countries, strengthen their presence in the countries where they already are, and with a little luck we will mitigate the effects (of tariffs) between the EC and US,” he said.