Portugal’s economy will contract by 1.9 percent in 2013, the Bank of Portugal said Tuesday in Lisbon. The central bank’s November forecast had pointed to a contraction of 1.6 percent.

This new projection, included in the Winter Economic Bulletin, is essentially explained by weak export growth, as internal demand is expected to remain unchanged and the drop in investment will be less than previously expected.

The Bank of Portugal estimates that this year exports rose 2 percent whilst previous projections pointed to growth of 5 percent.

The significant slowdown in exports, the central bank said, was due to “less favourable economic growth than had been considered,” at a time of particular uncertainty about the Euro Zone economy.

In relation to 2014 the Portuguese central bank estimates growth of 1.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) but notes that the outlook is still uncertain thus projections for that year “must be interpreted with prudence.” (macauhub)