Thousands of crisis-hit Portuguese seek financial support in 2014

Around 6,700 people in Portugal sought financial support from the Social Solidarity Fund in 2014, the country's official Catholic organization for charity and social relief revealed on Monday.

The fund helped pay off 447,000 euros (around 507,000 U.S. dollars) in debt last year, according to a report released by charity organization Caritas Portugal.

The report showed 44.21 percent of the fund was spent on rent payment, 8.36 percent on debt payment, 6.28 percent on housing renovations, 6.51 percent on electricity bills and 5.26 percent on medications.

Founded in 2011 by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, the Social Solidarity Fund has helped over 25,000 people with a combined spending of around 2.2 million euros (around 2.5 million dollars), according to figures released by Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Eugenio Fonseca, head of the Portuguese branch of the Catholic charity, said little attention has been paid to the "problem of indebtedness" that would lead to evictions of certain indebted house owners.

He said the government should be a "referee" in such cases and set up a national fund for creditors and debtors that allows the latter to restore financial independence.

Those efforts are fundamental to reducing social problems and domestic violence, he added.

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro (around 88.4 billion dollars) bailout program in 2011 with the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund and has had to implement harsh austerity measures to put the country's growth back on track.

According to a recent report by the country's National Institute of Statistics, 19.5 percent of people in Portugal lived on less than 411 euros (around 466 dollars) per month in 2013. Endi