Brussels, 12/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Portuguese government is reported to have not yet made an official request for its public deficit reduction target to be increased from 4% of GDP to 4.5%.
A European source explained on Thursday 12 September, the day before a Eurogroup meeting in Vilnius, that the target had only recently been changed and the circumstances that had led to the adjustment had not worsened since then so some very convincing arguments would be required.
Under the structural adjustment programme being implemented in return for the financial aid package, Portugal must reduce its deficit from 6.4% of GDP in 2012 to 5.5% in 2013 and 4% in 2014.
In Vilnius, the Portuguese finance minister will present to his counterparts compensatory measures that the Portuguese government could take now that the country's constitutional court has ruled that some of the draft law to make it easier to sack state officials is unconstitutional (see EUROPE 10911).
Exiting the programme. The same source says it is definitely too early to discuss Portugal's exit from the aid programme, scheduled for the spring. She warned that the country's budget situation would have an impact on its ability to find funding unaided from the money markets.
The troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) will be in Lisbon next week to examine implementation of the country's programme. Political crisis in Portugal meant that the eighth assessment mission, initially due in July, had to be postponed (see EUROPE 10900). (MB/transl.fl)