Roundup: Portugal to repay 14 billion euros of IMF debt earlier

Portugal's main opposition Socialist Party leader Antonio Costa said the country repaying its 14 billion euros (about 16 billion U.S. dollars) of debt from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier was a "normal" operation on Tuesday.

"It is a normal operation, which several countries are adopting, taking advantage of the European Central Bank's lower interest rates," said Costa before entering a debate at the Parliament on Tuesday, according to local media.

Local media reported on Tuesday that the Portuguese government has asked its European partners for permission to repay its 14 billion euros of IMF debt earlier, in up to two years and a half.

Portugal's Finance Minister Maria Luis Albuquerque announced last month that Portugal would follow Ireland in making a repayment to the IMF, taking advantage of low borrowing costs for European peripheral governments.

However, Costa said the country needed a new economic policy to halt austerity.

"We need a new economic policy to halt austerity, to give confidence back to people and create conditions for companies to capitalize themselves and to be able to benefit from this new monetary framework that the European Central Bank (ECB) has been making," Costa said.

He also said the country should "renegotiate its debt, not reduce the debt."

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro bailout program in May 2011 with the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and successfully exited that program in May last year.

The IMF lent Portugal 26.9 billion euros, which carried a 3.7 percent tax rate and an average loan maturity of 7 years. Endit