Improvement of national capacity to evaluate structural reforms and public policies in Portugal

The technical assistance program provides technical services to national authorities, who are aiming to themselves, contribute to create the desired capacity, within the ranks of the public administration in general in Portugal, and the Office for Economic Policy and International Affairs (GPEARI) ranks in particular, to properly assess the impact of public policies and reforms in economic activity. Portugal has experienced in the last decade, severe fluctuations in the investment flow. In particular, the high indebtedness and deleveraging path of the Portuguese firms, along with huge changes in the construction sector, have weighted heavily on investments and potential growth. The country has now recorded one of the lowest investment rates in the EU, according to the EC 2019 Country report. The importance of the Office for Economic Policy and International Affairs is to improve its understanding of private investment dynamics and its forecasting ability to better support decision making in policy design. The purpose of this DG Reform funded project is to provide technical services to national stakeholders, who themselves are responsible, to provide tools and training to enable national authorities to properly evaluate structural reforms and public policy, as well as to improve investment analysis and modelling.