Eurogroup leader full of optimism over Portugal

Brussels: President of the Eurogroup Paschal Donohoe has emphasised Portugal’s “very stable and in good condition” financial situation, saying he is looking forward to “excellent cooperation” with new minister of finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, who makes his ‘debut’ in Brussels.

Said Mr Donahue, as he arrived at the meeting of European finance ministers this afternoon: “I know that, in general, the opinion of the Eurogroup, the Commission and all the ministers of finance who are members of the European Union is that there has been a huge improvement in Portugal’s public finances. We’ve seen its debt levels continue to improve and we’ve also seen the Portuguese economy return to strong growth and I’m sure that the new minister of finance will brief us on his latest outlook for the current economy (…) I know we’ll have great co-operation with them,” he added.