Finance Minister Fernando Medina said this Friday that these are the “certain accounts” that allow the support announced today to be given to citizens and that the fight against inflation cannot be at the expense of Portuguese families.
Asked at a press conference if he thinks the European Central Bank (ECB) is being too strict about the measures taken to fight inflation, namely raising interest rates, Medina agreed: “Yes.”
“Inflation and the rise in interest rates are putting a lot of pressure on families, especially lower-income families, who are living on salary and retirement at the end of the month,” he said.
According to the official, it is mainly the poorest families and the middle class that suffer from the increase in the cost of living for “reasons unrelated to Portugal”, to which is added the “rise in interest rates”. rates to fight inflation” of the ECB.
According to Medina, it is not Portugal’s responsibility to reduce inflation, this fight cannot be at the expense of those who live in the country.
“We are not going to do disinflation through Portuguese families (…) when a very significant part of the inflation we have is because of the war, the disruptions in energy prices, the disruptions in global food chains,” he said. .
“We cannot have an inflationary policy, but we cannot have disinflation with the wages and pensions of the Portuguese either,” he stressed, defending that the fight against inflation must be fought with “balance”.
Last week, ECB President Christine Lagarde called on eurozone governments to “rapidly” cut budget support for households and businesses to curb inflation.
During the parliamentary debate on Thursday, the prime minister criticized the interest rate increase by the ECB.
“Because in a context where the European Central Bank hardly continues to pursue a policy of raising interest rates, no matter who hurts, it is absolutely essential that a country as indebted as Portugal is, continues to reduce the amount of its debt so that it suffers as little as possible from the rate hike decided by the European Central Bank,” defended António Costa, adding that “enrage those who irritate, at all costs” will continue to support the government.
Even today, Medina praised the Portuguese state’s budget balance, saying it is the “accurate accounts” that give the government “freedom and capacity” to act.
“It is precisely the policy of certain accounts that now allows us to have a good policy towards Portuguese families,” he said.
The budget deficit for 2022 was €3.5 billion lower than estimated by the government, reflecting higher revenue growth than expenditure, according to data released today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
In the proposal for the National Budget for 2023 (OE2023), the government predicts a budget deficit for 2022, in the national accounts, of 1.9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which corresponds to a financing requirement of 4,430 million euros .
However, in the preliminary estimate released today, INE reveals that the deficit was 0.4% of GDP last year, equivalent to a borrowing requirement of EUR 944.4 million.
Source: DN
