The Government’s economic policy "is to make life easier for companies"

The Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro opened the Lusiaves Group Incubation Centre in Pombal and during his speech reiterated the Government’s commitment to lessen the tax burden on companies. Luís Montenegro indicated the cut in taxes as a boost to increase investment, competitiveness and, as such, improve workers’ wages.

According to the Prime Minister, the State Budget "is to register the fate of tax expenditure, jot down the estimates and forecasts for its collection" and the Government0s economic policy aims to "make life easier for companies".

He also stressed the need to maintain tax predictability, claiming that companies need "swiftness, simplification, and predictability" in their interactions with the State rather than facing constant changes to the rules.

During his speech, he also underlined that the tax policy principles should not be for debate under the State Budget discussion. "For us, tax policy in this Government is not a financial policy. I know that we are under State Budget discussions and once more, we are falling prey to the mistake of discussing these principles out of time", Luís Montenegro claimed.

Under the environmental policy, the Prime Minister stated that concern with the environment is not incompatible with economic development, advocating that "without good economies and without the creation of wealth there is no environmental protection". Luís Montenegro also recalled that "the greatest environmental atrocities" occur in underdeveloped regions, yet stressed the responsibility of the richest economies in terms of CO2 emissions, based on Global Carbon Project data.