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Portugal's current account surplus positive for third consecutive year: minister

Xinhua, February 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal's Economy Minister Antonio Pires de Lima said on Tuesday the debt-laden country's current account surplus had been positive for a third consecutive year, adding that exports grew around 3 percent and rose up to around 70 billion euros (79 billion U.S. dollars) last year.

"In 2014, our commercial balance was not loss-making," Pires de Lima said at a conference to help boost companies' financing in Famalicao, a city in the Portuguese district of Braga, according to local media reports.

Although Portugal has in the past overly relied on domestic markets, the country has seen exports rise significantly, with exports accounting for 41 percent of the national output in 2014.

Portugal has been insisting on tax increases and spending cuts to put the country back on a sustainable path, and is trying to cut its budget deficit to below the European Union's 3 percent of GDP threshold by 2015. Endit