Interventions of the IMF in Portugal in the 1970s and 1980s
This website is dedicated to the presentation of the material concerning the project financed by the Portuguese Research Agency (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) interventions in Portugal in the 1970s and 1980s. Diverse material respecting those interventions will be posted in the website, in addition to the scientific results of the project, which will be published as they get concluded. These results include papers and books, interviews with leading figures of the time as well as other accessory material important for the understanding of those interventions.
In the last decades, it was thought that the Portuguese economy would not need any more IMF financial assistance, but in fact, twenty five years after its previous intervention (1983-1985), Portugal accepted again such assistance (now in coordination with the European Commission and the European Central Bank). Contrary to conventional wisdom, Portugal had to pass through four, rather than three, external interventions of a similar sort in the last forty years: in 1977-78, in 1978-79, in 1983-1985, and in 2011-2014. The second and the third are those historically better known and are generally considered to have been a "success". Opinions on the latest intervention are, however, somewhat mixed. Despite the general impression of success of the 1978-79 and 1983-1985 interventions, very few works have been dedicated to them. The details of the programmes are not well known and their exact effects on the Portuguese economy have not been clearly measured. Calling these interventions a "success" is based on the fact that they solved the immediate problem that had caused them, an external imbalance as measured by the balance of payments. But it is also based on the fact that they were followed by interesting growth spells, particularly after the 1983-1985 one. The main purposes of this project are, in the first place, to reconstitute in a precise way the features of the 1977-78, 1978-1979 and 1983-1985 interventions (amounts involved, terms of conditionality, and policies actually put in practice) and, in the second place, to assess the effects of the programmes on the Portuguese economy.
In the last decades, it was thought that the Portuguese economy would not need any more IMF financial assistance, but in fact, twenty five years after its previous intervention (1983-1985), Portugal accepted again such assistance (now in coordination with the European Commission and the European Central Bank). Contrary to conventional wisdom, Portugal had to pass through four, rather than three, external interventions of a similar sort in the last forty years: in 1977-78, in 1978-79, in 1983-1985, and in 2011-2014. The second and the third are those historically better known and are generally considered to have been a "success". Opinions on the latest intervention are, however, somewhat mixed. Despite the general impression of success of the 1978-79 and 1983-1985 interventions, very few works have been dedicated to them. The details of the programmes are not well known and their exact effects on the Portuguese economy have not been clearly measured. Calling these interventions a "success" is based on the fact that they solved the immediate problem that had caused them, an external imbalance as measured by the balance of payments. But it is also based on the fact that they were followed by interesting growth spells, particularly after the 1983-1985 one. The main purposes of this project are, in the first place, to reconstitute in a precise way the features of the 1977-78, 1978-1979 and 1983-1985 interventions (amounts involved, terms of conditionality, and policies actually put in practice) and, in the second place, to assess the effects of the programmes on the Portuguese economy.