“Socrates Tries Again to Show Portugal Learning Greek Lessons” no Bloomberg
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates has a fresh chance to show he’s heeded the lesson of Greece’s fiscal crisis after disappointing bondholders with his 2010 budget.
As soon as this week, his government is due to explain to the European Commission how it will honor a pledge to cut the budget deficit to within the European Union’s limit of 3 percent of output in 2013, from 9.3 percent last year. Postponing the bulk of that effort, Portugal plans to trim the shortfall by 1 percentage point this year as it banks on faster growth than forecast by the International Monetary Fund.
“People are increasingly worried about how on earth this is going to be achieved,” said Phyllis Reed, London-based head of bond research at Kleinwort Benson, which manages $32 billion of assets. “Whether Portugal will be able to grow at all this year is really debatable.”
Socrates’s challenge is compounded by his government’s lack of a parliamentary majority and an economy that has barely grown in the last decade. Failure to ease investor concern may spark a further plunge in government bonds and worsen a European crisis that’s undermining the euro(..)
The budget includes a 2010 growth forecast of 0.7 percent, compared with the IMF’s 0.4 percent forecast. The Washington- based lender sees the economy expanding 0.9 percent in 2011 and 1.3 percent in 2012, periods for which the government hasn’t yet given forecasts.
Portugal has one of the euro area’s largest private debt burdens, according to data from the European Central Bank. It has also lost competitiveness since joining the euro, with labor costs rising an average 3.5 percent a year in the last decade compared with 2.3 percent in Germany.
“We know about all these problems,” said Luigi Speranza, an economist at BNP Paribas SA in London. “The question is, what are they going to do about it?”
(meus destaques)
Pedro Sette-Câmara
André Azevedo Alves
Carlos Guimarães Pinto
Helder Ferreira
Bruno Garschagen
João Luís Pinto
LA
Bruno Alves
Miguel Botelho Moniz
ruicarmo
Miguel Noronha
Elizabete Dias
António Costa Amaral (AA)
LT
Rui Oliveira
BZ
dos ∫antos
André Abrantes Amaral
planca12
rui a.
Rodrigo Adão da Fonseca
Adolfo Mesquita Nunes
Michael Seufert
Luciano
Carlos M. Fernandes
Maria João Marques
jtcb
Nuno Branco
elisabetejoaquim
filipeabrantes
Tomás Belchior
Bruno Gonçalves
Ricardo G. Francisco
Tiago Loureiro
Ricardo Campelo de Magalhães
Filipe Faria
Ricardo Arroja
Ricardo Lima
They will do nothing, as usual.
Comentário por Costa Machado — Fevereiro 23, 2010 @ 11:08
Ou quem ensina aprende, ou continuam a estupidificar em vez de ensinar o que quer que seja.. Estas agencias servem mesmo para criar ilusões.
É preciso um bocado de atenção para não ser roubado, obviamente os criminosos organizaram isto melhor do que alguém consegue imaginar.
Eles vivem da ilusão que já vêm de traz, e não sabem que a ilusão vive neles mesmos. Quando as ilusões cairem bem podem tentar respirar, é que não sei quantos quilometros de pó são…
Comentário por Tiago Lopes — Fevereiro 23, 2010 @ 11:31
Ah, mas estes tipos ainda não tinham ouvido Sócrates dizer, como o fez ontem à noite, que Portugal vai equilibrar as contas da mesma forma que usou em 2005.
E esperemos que continuem sem ouvir…
Comentário por jaa — Fevereiro 23, 2010 @ 11:48
[...] na mesma situação. Convém é urgentemente tomar medidas para evitar que isso aconteça. E é precisamente isso que malévolas agências de rating, os obscuros especuladores e os portugueses pedem. Deixe um [...]
Pingback por Chega de conversa « O Insurgente — Fevereiro 25, 2010 @ 10:06