Brussels, 04/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 4 December, the European Commission welcomed the success of the sale of Portuguese bonds on Tuesday. In a press release, Commissioner Olli Rehn's spokesman Simon O'Connor said it was an encouraging sign of investor confidence. On Tuesday, the Portuguese treasury sold €2.48 billion of debt that will mature in June and October 2014 and €4.16 billion maturing in October 2015 in exchange for bonds maturing in 2017 and 2018 at yields of 4.67% and 4.95% respectively. In this way, Portugal has reduced the amount that needs to be paid back over the next two years to €20.3 billion, which in turn will decrease the country's borrowing requirements in 2014 and 2015 by 24.6%. O'Connor said this success lessened the uncertainties about Portugal's financing needs for the next two years. It is particularly welcome because Portugal is due to exit its aid programme (negotiated in 2011) in June 2014. The Portuguese government has already announced that it is considering requesting a precautionary credit line as a back-up for when it returns to the markets. The bond exchange deal came at the same time as the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) returned to Lisbon for a new assessment mission. Public discontent remains high in Portugal following the introduction last week of the 2014 austerity budget, which was greeted by a string of demonstrations, particularly by civil servants. (SP/transl.fl)