External debt – eradication of which has been touted as one of the coalition government’s major success stories – has once again reared its ugly head. Expresso’s online news feed reported yesterday that after two years in the black, Portugal’s foreign business is back in the red, this time with a deficit of €104.3 million. It’s a “degradation of €471.6 million” compared to the same period last year, writes the paper.
The news, which involves Portugal’s “commercial relations”, in other words imports and exports of goods and services, “signifies that the country’s indebtedness abroad is increasing”, Expresso concludes.
