Portugal's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 3.2 percent in 2012, more than that had been expected, the country's National Statistic Institute (INE) said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the debt-stricken country's economy in the last quarter contracted by 3.8 percent due to the reduction in the exports of goods and services, the INE said.

The troika comprising the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, which have granted Portugal a bailout of 78 billion euros (about 103 billion U.S. dollars), had forecast an economic contraction of 3 percent for the country in 2012.

The INE said Wednesday that Portugal's unemployment rate rose to a record 16.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

To meet the requirements of the troika, the Portuguese government is impelementing harsh austerity measures for the bailout which is widely blamed for the high rate of unemployment in the country.