BERLIN (MNI) – Portuguese Finance Minister Alvaro Santos Pereira
said in a newspaper interview published Tuesday that the country is well
underway to meet the deficit goals set under the EU-IMF aid program.
The government will be able to cut the deficit to 5.9% of GDP this
year and to below 3% in 2013, Pereira told German daily Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). “For 2015 we hope for a balanced budget,” he
said.
However, the minister warned that Portugal and many other countries
in Europe are currently suffering from tight credit supply. “The EU
states need liquidity more than Eurobonds,” he argued, calling for a
more active role of the ECB.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$$FX$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$,M$$EC$]
