Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, April 30, 2025 (Lusa) - The leader of the Madeira Government (PSD/CDS) said on Wednesday that economic growth forecasts indicate that the region will close the current year with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around €7.5 billion.
‘At this moment, we have all the conditions to close 2025 with a GDP of around €7.5 billion, which is extraordinary for a region like ours,’ Miguel Albuquerque told journalists after handing over the 16th regional government programme to the speaker of the Madeira Legislative Assembly, Rubina Leal. The programme will be discussed between 6 and 8 May.
The head of the Madeira executive stressed that the document embodies a ‘synthesis’ of the PSD and CDS-PP programmes consensually agreed in the coalition government deal and parliamentary focus to secure an absolute majority, with a view to "continuing the path of economic growth" seen in Madeira in recent years.
Referring to GDP, the Madeiran Social Democrat leader stressed that, "in line with expectations for the second half of the year and with the forecasts for the second half, the idea is to reach €7.5 billion".
"We [Madeira] closed 2024 with an expectation that was higher than the forecast, with GDP growth of €7.122 billion, an extraordinary figure," he stressed.
Miguel Albuquerque also said that the regional government's programme embodies the "commitments of the majority to what was the will of the people of Madeira" expressed in the regional elections on 23 March.
"It is a programme that aims not only to fulfil the region's path of economic growth, in maintaining low unemployment and growth in all sectors, but also has a social intervention component that covers the elderly, needy families, long-term care and two very important public health projects, the completion of the new central and university hospital in Madeira and the completion of the new health centre in Porto Santo," he pointed out.
The minister added that the aim is also to "continue the stability and progress made in education, science and access to culture", with a view to providing Madeira with "a new generation equipped with excellent training".
The head of the island's executive also mentioned that the government programme includes "an important framework to support businesses and economic agents, some of the issues that are on the agenda, and an incentive to retain qualified professionals in the civil service".
To this end, it provides for an increase in the island allowance for civil servants and the opening, "with moderation and control of expenditure, of careers in the civil service".
Albuquerque indicated that an increase in the minimum wage, which this year stands at €915 gross per month, is also planned, considering it "a challenge" to also increase the average wage.
‘I like to be clear on these issues: we can only maintain this growth if we have a dynamic economy,’ he concluded, reaffirming that the year is expected to close with a GDP of around €7.5 billion.
The 16th regional government's programme is set out in a document of around 190 pages, marked above all by the continuity of the main lines of the previous programme.
The last programme of the Madeira government, which was in a minority and had the support of the two MPs from the CDS-PP, was drawn up after negotiations with several opposition parties (except the PS and JPP) and approved on 4 July for the four-year period 2024-2028 with 22 votes in favour from the PSD, CDS and PAN, 21 votes against from the PS, JPP and Chega MP Magna Costa, with the abstentions of the remaining Chega and Liberal Initiative MPs.
However, on 17 December 2024, a motion of no confidence tabled by Chega against the Madeira executive was passed, bringing down a regional government for the first time in the history of Madeira's parliament and autonomy.
This political crisis led the country's president to call early regional elections on 23 March this year, with the PSD managing to elect 23 MPs out of a total of 47 and securing an absolute majority with an agreement with the CDS-PP candidate, José Manuel Rodrigues, who had been speaker of the Legislative Assembly since 2019.
The Legislative Assembly of Madeira also consists of 11 MPs from the JPP, which now leads the regional opposition, a position almost always held by the PS, which lost three seats and now has eight representatives. Chega elected three MPs and the IL one.
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