Bloomberg In Portugal, where pessimism has become a national characteristic, the Socialist government may be too optimistic about the economic outlook. Finance Minister Mario Centeno predicts expansion of 1.8 percent this year and next and an acceleration to 2.1 percent in 2020 — which would be the fastest in a decade. That makes the government an outlier, with a …

  Bloomberg Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz is investing about €500 million ($574 million) to build an engine plant in Poland as the luxury-car brand expands to overtake rival BMW. The factory in Jawor in Poland’s southwest will be Daimler’s second engine plant outside Germany. The facility, with a workforce of several hundred employees in its initial phase, will make four-cylinder gasoline …

  Bloomberg Low interest rates are helping to reduce euro-area public debt, but rigorous enforcement of European Union fiscal rules is also needed to bring the burden down by a “sizable” amount, the European Central Bank said. Since the end of the financial crisis, euro-area countries have struggled to unwind a debt ratio that stood at around 93 percent of …