As Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has announced he will be teaming up with his CDS-PP coalition partners yet again to fight upcoming elections, he also revealed that the government wants to pre-empt the rest of the loan repayment schedule it has with the IMF. The news has been welcomed with reserve by Brussels which has told Lusa news agency that it will need to “examine carefully” Portugal’s request.
It was only in February that Portugal received the go-ahead for a similar early-bird payment, clearing almost half its €14 billion debt with the IMF.
For this request to be authorised, it needs the green-light from all member states, Lusa explains, as “once again” Portugal is only seeking to anticipate the repayment to one of its troika lenders.
