Portugal's new government sees economy growing by 1.5% in 2024

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's new centre-right government expects the economy to grow 1.5% in 2024, which is the same number as predicted by the previous administration in November and down from 2.3% last year, it said in a document on Monday.

The budget surplus should end this year at 0.3% of gross domestic product after a surplus of 1.2% in 2023, it estimated in the so-called Stability Programme for 2024-28, which the government sent to parliament.

The Bank of Portugal has forecast 2% growth in 2024.

The minority government, which only took over last month, based the projections on unchanged policies compared to those of the previous centre-left administration and with the economic information available until April 5. The government has not yet projected what impact its proposed measures such as tax cuts and pay hikes will have on GDP or the budget balance.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, editing by Andrei Khalip)