Brussels, 31/08/2012 (Agence Europe) - The head of Portuguese employers called on Thursday 30 August for a review of the country's bailout plan, AFP reports, at the end of a meeting with the representatives of the country's creditors - the troika (European Commission, ECB, IMF) currently in Lisbon to re-examine the implementation of the financial assistance programme. “The adjustment programme should be revised in accordance with the reality of the Portuguese economy”, said Antonio Saraiva, head of the Confederation of Portuguese Industry. “The Portuguese situation requires different solutions, with currently a decrease in the interest rates” of the international financial aid agreed in May 2011, he added.
Portugal, which received a loan of €78 billion from its institutional creditors, is committed in exchange to applying austerity treatment in order to clean up its public finances and make its economy more flexible. But the latest figures to be published show that Portugal would not be able to reach its objective of public deficit at 4.5% of GDP for 2012. According to the daily Diario Economico of 30 August, the 2012 public deficit could reach 5.3% of GDP (see EUROPE 10678). “The 5.3% slippage reported in the press today is going to require a lot of imagination and a lot of flexibility on the part of the troika to find solutions”, Saraiva said. “If the bailout plan drawn up for Portugal is not working, it's the European Union which will need to rethink its model of how it works. … Ways for returning to growth need to be found, with realistic and achievable objectives”, he went on.
The troika began its fifth mission on Tuesday 28 August to assess Portugal's aid plan. As part of this, the Portuguese government began its process of privatising the country's airport management ANA on Thursday - a step which was foreseen in the aid plan. (SP/transl.fl)