By Giwa SHILE
Portugal’s parliament on Thursday approved the minority Socialist government’s 2019 budget bill.
The budget aims to nearly eliminate the deficit in an election year to further reduce Portugal’s debt burden, still one of Europe’s heaviest.
Speaking before the vote, Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced that his fiscal consolidation policies would allow the early repayment of the remaining part of bailout loans provided by the International Monetary Fund IMF) by the end of the year.
“By the end of the year, we will have paid the full amount owed to the IMF, the remaining 4.6 billion Euros, with all the significance of turning the page that it entails.
“The 2019 budget continues with these good policies, prepares us for the future, guaranteeing financial sustainability,” Costa said.
Costa’s centre-left administration has managed to combine fiscal improvements with policies to support growth, while reversing many unpopular austerity measures imposed during the EU/IMF bailout programme.
The budget that set the deficit at just 0.2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after this year’s projected 0.7 per cent was approved by the Socialists and their far-left allies in parliament, the Communists and Left Bloc.
The remaining lawmakers, the centre-right opposition Social Democrats and conservative CDS-PP voted against, describing the bill as an election year gimmick.
The Socialists lead in opinion polls by a wide margin for a national election due in a year’s time.
