Off the wire
• Gambian court dismisses coup plotters' appeal  • Benin's child labor rate keeps increasing despite welfare measures  • News Analysis: Japan's gov't likened to Imperial Army as financial spat casts shadow over Tokyo 2020 Olympics  • British enterprises need advanced Chinese technology, equipment: local entrepreneurs  • Brazil rescues more than 6,000 child workers in a year  • Chinese envoy refutes unwarranted accusations by Philippines  • Xinhua China news advisory -- June 13  • ATP Stuttgart Open results  • Judit Polgar appointed as head coach of Hungarian men's chess team  • Australia beats Nigeria 2-0 in women's World Cup  
You are here: 　 Home

Portugal faces "tangible risk" of missing budget deficit target: IMF

Xinhua, June 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal faces a "tangible risk" of not meeting its budget deficit target this year if there are no further cuts in spending, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Friday.

"In the absence of steps to reduce primary spending, the overall fiscal deficit this year is currently projected at 3.2 percent of GDP," the IMF's second Post-Program Monitoring report read.

The Portuguese government has insisted that the country will manage to bring its budget deficit down to 2.7 percent of GDP.

The IMF also said faster medium-term growth required further structural reforms.

"Recent efforts to move forward with privatization, transport concessions and lowering natural gas prices for end-users have been encouraging, but reforms to increase the effectiveness of the public sector have continued to lag," the IMF said.

"Labor market reforms to spur job creation remain a particular challenge, especially for lower-skilled workers, and fresh reform initiatives in this area would be desirable," the IMF said.

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro (87.8-billion-U.S.-dollar) bailout with the European Central Bank (ECB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Commission (EC) in 2011.

The country is nursing itself back to financial health and has said it will repay the IMF 2 billion euros (2.3 billion dollars) it owes earlier than scheduled. Portugal paid the IMF 6.6 billion euros (7.4 billion dollars) back in March. Endi