The Portuguese Ministry of Finance forecasts that the Portuguese economy will grow for the fifth consecutive year next year as the budget deficit shrinks, Bloomberg reports.

The news agency quotes a written statement issued by the ministry as forecasting that the annual rate of growth in gross domestic product will slow to 2.2 percent next year from 2.6 percent this year.

The ministry expects the budget deficit to diminish to 1 percent of GDP from 1.4 percent.

It says the government intends to raise next year taxes on some types of packaged food that contain a lot of salt, including biscuits and potato crisps.

The ministry forecasts that Portuguese debt will decrease to the equivalent of 1.235 times GDP, falling for the second year in a row, Bloomberg says.