Portugal should stick to the budget deficit reduction targets agreed with international lenders, the head of eurozone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said yesterday after Lisbon said a softer goal for next year would be better.

Portugal’s Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas told a parliamentary commission on Wednesday the budget deficit goal set for next year should be 4.5 per cent of GDP rather than the agreed four per cent.

“I think it’s important to stick to what we’ve now agreed within the programme, also including the deficit targets,” Dijsselbloem told reporters ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

“I don’t think it’s a good signal to keep the discussion alive whether the targets should be more or less,” he said.

Later in the meeting eurozone ministers briefly discussed Portugal and are to debate it in more detail later in November.

“A rigorous implementation of the agreed policy... will ensure a long lasting economic recovery,” Dijsselbloem told reporters after the first round of talks.

Dijsselbloem said Portugal, which showed the fastest growth in the bloc in the second quarter, reassured its partners the government remained fully committed to the programme.

Portugal, Ireland and Spain should exit international aid programmes in the coming months.

“I can tell you that there will be no single rule or uniform pattern to be followed here,” European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn told reporters.

“We will need to look very carefully at what the optimal solution will be in each case to ensure a successful exit,” he said.

Ireland has already declared it would ask the eurozone bailout fund for a €10 billion credit line to ease its return to the markets.

The next review of Portugal’s reforms by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund begins on Monday. The lenders have already eased Lisbon’s deficit targets for this year and next year in March, because of a deeper than expected recession. The target for this year is 5.5 per cent, down from 6.4 per cent last year. (Reuters)

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