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Portugal's statistics agency says unemployment figures "credible, reliable"

Xinhua, April 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal's National Institute of Statistics (INE) on Thursday dismissed the prime minister's doubts regarding recent unemployment figures, Portuguese Lusa News Agency reported.

The INE told Lusa the statistics it releases are "credible and reliable" and that there was no reason to undermine the institution's credibility.

The statistics agency in March revised the country's unemployment rate upwards to 14.1 percent, from 13.8 percent the previous month.

During the last quarterly debate, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho doubted the statistics put forward by the statistics institute and demanded a "serious basis" for those figures.

He also responded to criticism from the Socialist party by pointing out that the Portuguese economy was growing, adding that the center-right government expected 1.5 percent growth this year.

Portugal's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded in the fourth quarter at the fastest rate in a year, but the country is still struggling to reduce its public debt which stands at over 130 percent of GDP. Endit