In the autumn macroeconomic forecasts, the community executive reflects on the weight that high levels of inflation and the sharp rise in energy prices have had on the risk of energy poverty, placing Portugal as the fifth worst country in the EU - only surpassed by Lithuania, Croatia, Latvia and Romania -, given the pre-existing energy poverty rate and the expected increase in the current situation.

“It is possible to quantify the effect of rising energy and consumer prices on energy poverty, which is defined as a situation in which households do not have access to essential energy services”, with an “increase in energy poverty as a result of the rising cost of living”, states the European Commission in the document.

For this reason, it is even possible to “infer an increase in financial difficulties due to the increase in energy prices”.

In the chapter referring to Portugal, the community executive highlights that “the fiscal policy measures to mitigate the impact of high energy prices, namely in the form of income support and reduction of indirect taxes for both families and companies, are expected to have a budgetary cost of 2.1% of GDP in 2022”.