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Portugal's council of public finances calls for public debt restructuring

Xinhua, December 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

President of Portugal's Council of Public Finances, Teodora Cardoso, on Tuesday called for the need for Portugal to have its public debt restructured.

In the sideline of a debate in Lisbon organised by the Portuguese and French commerce confederations, Cardoso said a fiscal pardon would probably be the only way for the country to reach the deficit target of 2.5 percent for this year, set by Brussels.

She added that the government would do everything in its hands to reach the target.

However, Teodora was critical of the current Socialist government's policies, saying austerity measures by the previous center-right government shouldn't have been reversed.

According to the Technical Unit for Budgetary Support (UTAO), Portugal's public deficit until September was 2.8 percent of GDP, above the government's target of 2.2 percent for 2016.

The country signed a 78 billion euro-bailout program in 2011 when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Portugal ended that program in 2014 but its debt load still stands at over 130 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Portugal was close to receiving a fine earlier this year due to the country failing to meet its deficit target last year, but the commission decided to cancel the fine.

Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Monday night that the European Union could not continue to ignore the country's debt problems, however he believed no debt relief will be given to the country before Germany's elections in a year. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollars) Endit