In Portugal, the government and the opposition finally reached an agreement Saturday on the budget for 2011, marked with the seal of the rigor and necessary to restore as quickly as market confidence. Pledging to abstain from voting on Wednesday of this project, the Portuguese opposition ends several weeks of impasse that has raised fears of a financial crisis and political crisis. In late September, the Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates had even hinted that he might resign if the budget is rejected.
Negotiations that took place under pressure from investors as the European Union. In late September, the Portuguese rate in the wake of the obligations Irish had indeed reached peaks, exceeding 6.5%. The markets just sanction the government's inability to contain the slippage in public finances, amid sluggish economic growth.Beyond the 7% interest, the finance minister warned in mid-October that Portugal would be forced to resort to using Twenty-seven, in the image of Greece a few months earlier.
To fulfill the commitment made by Jose Socrates of Portugal to reduce the deficit of 7.3% of GDP this year to 4.6% in 2011, the draft budget to impose many sacrifices to Lusitano. Among these measures, a VAT increase of two percentage points to 23% cuts of 5% to 10% in salaries of civil servants, a questioning of tax deductions on health spending, education or housing …
A vote on first reading of the budget is scheduled on Wednesday in Parliament.