Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A bailout of 78 billion euros for Portugal

The outgoing Prime Minister Jose Socrates said the Portuguese, Tuesday, May 3 in the evening that his government had reached a "good agreement" with the delegations of the EU and IMF responsible for negotiating the financial aid program requested by the country for a $ 78 billion over three years. Mr Socrates said that the terms of the agreement will in Portugal for more time than promised by the government to meet its budget deficit targets, which were slightly relaxed.

The program defines the objectives of a more gradual reduction of the deficit: 5.9% of GDP this year, 4.5% in 2012 and 3% in 2013, "said Socrates, while Portugal had previously committed to reduce its deficit to 4.6% and 3% in 2012 to 2% in 2013. In 2010, the Portuguese public accounts imbalance was 9.1%, while the stated goal was 7.3%.

On Wednesday, the agency gave more details: the bailout plan includes 12 billion euros for recapitalization of the banking sector. Portuguese banks, they must wear their capital ratio "hard" end of 2011 to 9% and 10% in late 2012. Equity "hard" does not include unrealized gains. Finally, Portugal will also reap nearly 5.3 billion euros from privatizations.

Threatened breach of funding because of prohibitively high interest rates charged by the markets, worried about the solvency of the country, Portugal, who must repay five billion euros of debt in mid-June, had requested assistance EU and IMF on April 7, after Greece and Ireland last year.

For Mr. Socrates, it is "a good agreement, an agreement that forbids Portugal". "There is no financial assistance program that is not demanding," he said. The IMF stressed that the agreement negotiated for nearly a month provides, in return, the establishment of a "comprehensive economic agenda" by the Portuguese government.

It must now be approved by the Portuguese opposition. The President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Pedro Passos Coelho said he would "not preclude the funding, insofar as the country desperately needs." José Socrates assured that "additional budgetary measures are not necessary for 2011" for "international institutions have recognized that the Portuguese situation was far from that of other countries." One of his arguments is to emphasize that the conditions of this agreement are more lenient than those imposed in Athens and Dublin.

Mr. Socrates denied the implementation of measures outlined in recent days in the press, including the abolition of 13th and 14th month of civil servants and retirees, a reduction in the minimum wage, or even layoffs and wage cuts in the public additional public. Forced to resign after the dismissal of his austerity program, Jose Socrates must now prepare for early parliamentary elections of June 5 For more information:

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