PRIVATISATION IN PORTUGAL: AN INSIGHT INTO THE EFFECTS OF A NEW POLITICAL STRATEGY

Abstract

In recent years, Portugal has followed the example of other Western countries, first by regulating access of private initiative into a variety of economic activities starting with banking in 1985 and lately, selling state‐owned companies in 1989. Privatization has been seen as a key issue in the former Portuguese Prime Minister Cavaco Silva's reforms to enable Portugal to achieve a better socio‐economic performance. These reforms started before 1986, the period of European Union membership, having as main goals: economic growth, modernization of economic units, and increase of competitiveness within the European context. Indeed, within many of the privatization objectives, it is partly recognized that privatization played an important role in the Portuguese government's strategy, which was complemented by price liberalization, taxation, and financial system reforms.

Citation

Nunes, J. and Montanheiro, L. (1997), "PRIVATISATION IN PORTUGAL: AN INSIGHT INTO THE EFFECTS OF A NEW POLITICAL STRATEGY", Competitiveness Review, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 59-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb046354