Portugal does not seek international aid, said Jose Socrates

Portugal has lowered, Tuesday, Jan. 11, its growth forecast for 2011, now providing a drop of 1.3% of GDP, whereas previous estimates had forecast stagnation. The Central Bank speaks for the coming year "a context of sharp fall in domestic demand and robust growth in exports." "This revision is primarily determined by the effects of remedial measures included in the fiscal 2011 budget, which should help reduce the public deficit to 4.6% of GDP and that the recessionary effects were not taken into account in previous projections.

Despite this bleak outlook, Prime Minister Jose Socrates, sought reassurance about the state of public accounts. He said Portugal has exceeded its goals for fiscal year 2010 the share of the deficit remains below the target of 7.3% of GDP from an imbalance of 9.3% in 2009, while revenue budget, expected up 4.5%, finally rose 5.3%.

Consequence: Portugal has no intention to seek international financial assistance, "said Socrates, while several European countries fighting for the cause of a bailout. According to Mr Socrates, Lisbon is taking steps to solve its problems and rumors about a possible bailout of speculators are playing and do not help Portugal.

Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, the finance minister, has also ensured that Portugal "does not" resort to external assistance to finance and "doing everything to avoid such an eventuality." It also indicates that using a rescue plan "would cause very significant damage to the reputation of the country," which "will take years to recover." Portugal is doing its job to solve its financial imbalances, "said the minister, for whom "it is Europe that seems not to work to maintain the stability of the euro".

Asked about the rising rate of the Portuguese debt while Portugal was expected to issue Wednesday between 750 million and 1.25 billion euros of bonds, the minister acknowledged that "market conditions worsened," stressing: "The average rate of our debt is still relatively low." "We are in condition to withstand these rates," said Teixeira dos Santos, saying that "it takes time for the country to reach show results, not just for 2010 but for 2011 ".

• Portugal PM says 2010 budget gap lower than goal (11/01/2011)
• Socrates Says Portugal Doesn't Need Aid, Deficit Lower (11/01/2011)
• Portugal seen heading for recession (11/01/2011)
• Portugal tries to calm bailout fears despite gloomy forecasts (11/01/2011)
• Portugal Prime Minister: Budget beats forecasts (11/01/2011)

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