Lenders relax Portugal’s fiscal targets

Author (Person) ,
Series Title
Series Details 12.9.12
Publication Date 12/09/2012
Content Type

International lenders agreed on the 11 September 2012 to relax the fiscal adjustments required under Portugal’s €78bn bailout programme, giving Lisbon an extra year to meet previously agreed deficit-reduction targets.

Staff teams from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB), and International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited Lisbon from 28 August 2012 - 11 September 2012 for the fifth quarterly review of Portugal’s economic programme.

However, an unexpectedly strong backlash to Portugal’s increasingly tough austerity measures emerged also in September 2012 triggering an upsurge of public discontent and political skirmishing, threatening to undermine the fiscal progress Lisbon had made with its €78bn bailout programme.

President Aníbal Cavaco Silva convened a meeting of the state council, his top advisory body, in an effort to ward off a political crisis, while hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on 15 September 2012 in the country’s biggest anti-austerity protest to date.

Related Links
El País, 11.9.12: EU cuts Lisbon more slack on deficit as economy wilts http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/09/11/inenglish/1347381291_718226.html
European Commission: RAPID: MEMO/12/663: Statement by the EC, ECB, and IMF on the Fifth Review Mission to Portugal http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/12/663&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
European Commission: RAPID: MEMO/12/657: Statement by Vice President Rehn following the conclusion of the fifth review mission to Portugal http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/12/657&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
ESO: Background information: Lisbon announces harsher austerity plans http://www.europeansources.info/record/lisbon-announces-harsher-austerity-plans/
Público / Diário de Notícias / Jornal de Negócios, 12.9.12: Troika offers some breathing space, for more austerity http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/2679821-troika-offers-some-breathing-space-more-austerity
IMF: Portugal and the IMF http://www.imf.org/external/country/prt/index.htm
BBC News, 15.9.12: Spain and Portugal see big anti-austerity rallies http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19611375

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