Brussels, 07/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 7 December, the Portuguese Finance Minister, Mario Centeno, assured his Eurogroup opposite numbers that his country would abide by the budgetary commitments agreed at European level with the previous centre-right government.
“One of the key things” is how the economic programme of the new Portuguese government (Socialist supported by the extreme left: Ed) fits in with the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, said the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who met Centeno on the sidelines of the meeting of the finance ministers of the eurozone. He said that the Portuguese minister had reassured him that the Portuguese government would respect the fiscal rules and “the agreements that we have in the eurozone”. It is for the Portuguese government to make its own choices within these constraints, Dijsselbloem stressed.
The Portuguese government is to present its draft 2016 budget by mid January. The country should have done so by mid-October, in line with the rules of the Pact and despite Portugal's difficulties in securing a stable government following the general elections of October. A prior discussion will nonetheless be held within the Eurogroup before the Portuguese parliament adopts the draft budget for 2016, Dijsselbloem said.
According to the autumn economic forecasts of the European Commission, the Portuguese economy is expected to grow by 1.7% of GDP in 2015 and 2016. Portuguese public deficit is expected to stand at 3.0% of GDP in 2015 and 2.9% in 2016, assuming no major policy changes. Public debt is forecast to fall from 128.2% to 124.7% of GDP between 2015 and 2016. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)