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Portuguese gov't hopes to lower unemployment by year end

Xinhua, March 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal's Minister of Economy Antonio Pires de Lima is optimistic the country's unemployment rate will stand below 13 percent by the end of the year, local media reported on Friday.

Pires de Lima said there was an "atmosphere of confidence for investment" and that more opportunities for employment would be created, Portuguese Lusa News Agency reported.

"We forecast an average unemployment rate of 13.4 percent for 2015. The unemployment rate in February was already at 13.3 percent. So it is natural that the rate will continue to gradually fall throughout the year," Pires de Lima said during a visit to technology company PT Inovacao e Sistemas, in Aveiro, around 200 km north of Lisbon.

"The year 2014 was a year of economic turnaround, in which we saw moderate growth and reduction of unemployment. We are initiating this year 2015 with even more positive economic prospects," he said, adding that the government was forecasting economic growth to be 1.5 percent of GDP.

The Portuguese economy is improving, with its GDP expanding in the fourth quarter at the fastest rate in a year. However, its debt still stands at around 125 percent of GDP.

The representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who arrived in Lisbon on March 5 to carry out an annual assessment of the Portuguese economy, have been critical of Portugal's progress and recently expressed doubts that Portugal would be able to bring down its deficit target to below 3 percent of GDP.

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro(84.23 billion U.S. dollars) bailout program in May 2011 with the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and since then has been subjected to an evaluation every three months. Portugal exited its bailout program in May last year.

Portugal recently sold 1.499 billion euros in 10-year bonds at an average yield of 2.041 percent and reimbursed 6.6 billion euros to the IMF on Thursday, around 20 percent of what it owes.

Portugal recently revealed it was planning to reimburse the IMF 14 billion euros it received under its bailout program earlier than expected so as to take advantage of low borrowing costs for European peripheral governments.( 1 euro = 1.08 U.S. dollars) Endit