GDP went down due to weak domestic demand, which went further down after a decline. Somehow, it again rose by 0.1% in the first quarter and appeared to have pulled the economy out of recession. But Portugal retained big trouble. In the last quarter of 2002, its GDP plummeted.8% from the third quarter and in the last quarter, it contracted by 1.3% from the previous year until the.3% in the third quarter of 2002. The economy continued to sag until the Bank of Portugal itself observed the fall of business confidence to its lowest recorded level since the 1993 recession. Official unemployment rate increased to a high 49.6%, rising by 26.3% from 2001 (O'Flynn).

Unemployment was 6.7% in 2003, compared with 4.3% in 2002 (O'Flynn 2003). Labor unions in Portugal claimed it was more than 7.6% as against the 5% ceiling set by the EU, despite the fact that the...
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