Finance minister Mário Centeno wants Brussels to remove country from penalty mechanism

Portugal has urged the EU and credit-rating agencies to acknowledge the scale of its economic turnround as the country heads towards its lowest fiscal deficit in more than 40 years. High quality global journalism requires investment.

Mário Centeno, the country’s finance minister, wants the EU to remove Portugal from the group of countries subject to penalties for breaking the bloc’s fiscal rules. In an interview he said last year’s fiscal deficit would be “very close to 2 per cent” of gross domestic product, the lowest since democracy was restored in Portugal in 1974. “Our economy has also been expanding for 13 consecutive quarters,” he said. “If this is not enough for a country to leave the excessive deficit procedure (EDP), you have to wonder what is necessary.”

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Source: https://www.ft.com/content/7439b8ca-059a-11e7-aa5b-6bb07f5c8e12