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Portuguese authorities upbeat over 2016 budget deficit figure

Xinhua, February 16, 2017 Adjust font size:

Portugal can now face 2017 with more confidence after the finance ministry confirmed that the budget deficit for 2016 will not exceed 2.1 percent of GDP (gross domestic product), Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Wednesday.

"This means a result which is more promising than what the government presented at the beginning of 2016," Costa said.

"We can face 2017 with more confidence, after verifying that European institutions that normally express some scepticism today present more optimistic growth forecasts than what the government itself had assumed," he said at the Lisbon airport (ANA) during the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government and ANA.

Portugal's Fnance Minister Mario Centeno told the parliamentary budget commission on Wednesday that the final 2016 budget deficit will not be more than 2.1 percent of GDP. "Portugal has the basis to ensure sustained, fair economic growth and healthy public accounts," he said.

Portuguese National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Tuesday in a statement that the Portugal's GDP grew an average of 1.4 percent in 2016.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has also expressed his optimism regarding the European Commission's forecast.

The Portuguese government and the opposition should be happy regarding news that the deficit for 2016 will not surpass 2.1 percent of GDP because it is a good news for Portugal's future, Rebelo de Sousa said on Wednesday. Endit