Staff from the European Commission and from the European Central Bank visited Portugal from 26 June to 4 July to conduct the sixth post-programme surveillance mission. Compared to the last mission, Portugal’s short-term economic and financial situation has improved. The recovery has accelerated further and important progress has been made in addressing near-term risks. Economic activity, which became more broad-based and grew buoyantly at the beginning of 2017, is projected to strengthen further. Moreover, since the last mission, the Council of the European Union closed the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) on 16 June following a deficit outturn of 2.0% of GDP in 2016 and slightly lower deficit forecasts for 2017 and 2018. The challenge now is to maintain the momentum. Further ambitious growth-enhancing reforms and sustained fiscal consolidation are essential to improve the economy’s resilience to shocks, as well as its competitiveness and medium-term growth prospects.