Portugal occupies a special place in the Russian public consciousness. Not only in connection with Russia’s defeat by the Portuguese in the qualifying round for the World Cup with a score of 7:1. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Russians owe the very idea of accelerated GDP growth—perhaps the only theoretical achievement of the Russian authorities in the field of economics—to the Portuguese. In December 1999, a theoretical article by then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, “Russia at the turn of the millennium,” was published, and it contained the following remarks: it is necessary to overcome the protracted crisis and create the preconditions for rapid and sustainable economic and social development of the country. “I emphasize that it is fast, since the country has not been given time to ramp up,” Vladimir Putin pointed out then and continued: “Here are the calculations of experts. In order to achieve per capita GDP production at the level of modern Portugal and Spain - countries that are not among the leaders of the world economy, "We will need about 15 years with a GDP growth rate of at least 8% per year. If we manage to maintain a GDP growth rate of 10% per year over the same 15 years, we will reach the current level of per capita GDP in Great Britain or France."

Portugal was identified as the first target for catch-up development. And the idea of doubling GDP in ten years, announced in 2003 (the president clarified it in 2004: it is possible to double GDP by 2010) also has something to do with Portugal. Although in fact in 2003 the Russian GDP was significantly larger than the Portuguese - $443 billion and $149 billion, respectively, per capita GDP of Portugal was by that time twice as high as the GDP of Russia. And now it's about bridging that gap. True, Portugal helps as much as possible - like in other EU countries, its annual economic growth is 1-2%. If it grew like America, by 4%, it would hardly be possible to catch up - it is no coincidence that at the 2000 summit (in Portugal) the European Union set the goal of catching up with the United States in per capita production and this year admitted its failure. But Russia, as it turned out, is growing not by 8-9%, which is needed to double, but by 6-7%. It turns out that it is very difficult to catch up with Portugal not only in football, but also in the economy.

SERGEY Kommersant-MINAEV

Catch up and overtake Portugal