Reflecting the economic impact of the pandemic, the Portuguese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) registered a strong contraction in real terms in the second quarter of 2020, decreasing by 16.3% in year-on-year terms, after the reduction of 2.3% in the previous quarter. This result is largely explained by the negative contribution (-11.9 percentage points) of domestic demand to the year-on-year rate of change of GDP, considerably more marked than that observed in the previous quarter (-1.2 percentage points), driven by the significant contraction of Private Consumption and Investment. The contribution of net external demand was more negative in the second quarter (-4.4 percentage points), reflecting the more significant decrease in Exports of Goods and Services than that observed in Imports of Goods and Services, due largely to the near interruption of non-residents tourism.
When compared with the first quarter of 2020, GDP decreased by 13.9% (quarter-on-quarter rate of change of -3.8% in the previous quarter). This result is also explained, to a large extent, by the negative contribution (-10.7 percentage points) of domestic demand to the quarter-on-quarter rate of change of GDP, and also to the more negative contribution of net external demand (-3.2 percentage points).
These results revise upwards (0.2 percentage points) the rates of change released at the end of last month due to the integration of additional primary information, namely related to the international trade of goods and services in June.