The head of the mission structure for Portugal’s Plan for Recovery and Resilience (the EU-funded post-pandemic investment programme) has said he hopes we are approaching the downhill strait – and that there won’t need to be any further adjustments. The only ‘unknown’ being the impacts of the Middle East war.
Fernando Alfaiate, head of Recover Portugal (the official body managing PRR funds) has told Lusa that the last adjustment, hopefully, will have been the last. “But the world moves every day, and there are many unpredictable circumstances,” he said.
Portugal submitted a PRR revision to Brussels last Tuesday involving the reallocation of €516 million.
Projects like the Braga surface metro, and the one-stop shop for renewable energy licensing, were excluded because execution is impossible by late August.
Storms in January and February forced adjustments to education, housing, and health infrastructure investments.
The government revised the PRR schedule, advancing some targets and delaying others, resulting in €516 million in adjustments between the 9th and 10th payment requests.
However, when asked about the potential impact of the Middle East conflict on the plan, Alfaiate said he hoped this would not happen, but … who can tell.
The head of the mission structure noted that the conflict is recent, writes Lusa, but warned that the most serious impacts will bring inflation and supply chain disruptions.
On the other hand, this is not a new situation for the PRR – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also brought impacts.
These days, the PRR is reaching the “end of the line” – it is just possible that there won’t even be time for the conflict to impact what is ordered or under construction.
The European Commission has recommended not submitting deep revisions after the end of May, as it may not be able to respond to requests in time.
“We are monitoring these circumstances and hope this does not lead us to have to review anything again,” said Alfaiate.
The PRR reforms and investments are all focused on recovering economic growth from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in supporting investment and job creation.
Source: LUSA
