Portuguese PM says public accounts strategy "successful" amid Socialist backlash

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said the country's public accounts strategy was successful on Friday.

On the budget implementation in 2014, Passos Coelho said austerity had lost relevance in Portugal, adding that growth policies had gained priority, according to Portuguese news agency Lusa.

"I think the results we presented in 2014 reinforce our conviction that it would be possible for Portugal to reach its target of below 3 percent this year," said Passos Coelho at a fortnightly debate at parliament.

"Hence (Portugal) has the consecutive merit of having a determined strategy of getting the public finance accounts back on track, and to center our focus on growth and employment policies, instead of on contention measures," he said.

However Passos Coelho pointed to the need to maintain the "balance between growth and responsibility" as "austerity gains less relevance and our capacity to grow becomes more notorious."

Portugal is striving to reach 1.5 percent growth in 2015, the prime minister has reiterated, despite adverse effects in recent times on the public accounts, especially the bankruptcy of bank BES which cost the state 4.9 billion euros (5.54 billion U.S. dollars) last August.

Portugal started to grow for the first time last year after a three-year recession. The debt-laden country had to sign a 78-billion-euro rescue program in 2011, which it ended in May last year. However, the government has continued its budget discipline to meet its targets.

The Socialist Party, Portugal's main opposition, accused Passos Coelho of presenting an "'old wives' tale" on Friday during the debate.

"He has forgotten the fiscal overdose faced by the Portuguese in 2014, the cuts to public investment and essential benefits for the poor, and that's why it has brought us here one of the most absurd tales of children, a wives' tale," said Ferro Rodrigues, chairman of the Socialist Party. Endit