Brussels, 09/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU says that a formal decision to extend the maturity of the loans to Ireland and Portugal will not be made at the meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin on Friday.
“There will certainly be discussions about the extension of maturities at the meetings on Friday, but (…) whatever happens or whatever progress is made on Friday, the formal decision won't be until the May ECOFIN meetings”, says Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan in The Irish Times.
Giving Ireland and Portugal longer to repay their loans would ease their cash-flow problems while they prepare to return to borrowing from the markets unaided.
A decision on this issue was expected in Dublin on Friday, but has been delayed after Portugal was forced by a constitutional court ruling to change its 2013 budget and adjust its €4 billion of savings (see related article and issue 10822). Portugal's international creditors will not make the final decision until they have certainty that the 2013 budget will allow the country to meet its budget commitments - cutting the deficit to 5.5% of GDP in 2013. Portugal's problems have had an impact on Ireland in practice, even though in theory they can be dealt with separately. (MB/transl.fl)