Brussels, 21/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 21 January, Portugal announced that it wished to follow in Ireland's footsteps, with the early repayment of nearly €26 billion in loans from the IMF in the framework of the financial bailout plan to which it was subjected between 2011 and 2014.
Thanks to the “normalisation of its access to the financial markets”, Portugal “is in a position to repay” the IMF “early” and will “undertake the necessary procedures” to this end, the Portuguese Finance Minister, Maria Luis Albuquerque, told the Parliament, AFP reports.
Amongst other things, Portugal has to repay an envelope of €10 billion in loans granted by the IMF at a rate of 4%, with the interest rate on Portuguese ten-year debt currently close to 2.5%. It has a reserve of €10 billion for the servicing of its debt in 2014.
The issue is expected to be on the agenda of the Eurogroup meeting of Monday 26 January. (MB)