Portugal’s public debt €274Bn

Portugal’s public debt, according to Brussels and the Bank of Portugal, rose €2.1Bn to May to €274Bn.

In April, the State’s debt had fallen €2.5Bn after hitting a record high in March while the debt ratio in terms of GDP hit a new record by the end of Q1 of 137%.
“This increase of loans, essentially via the receipt of the second tranche of the loan from the European Commission (€2.4Bn) on the back of the EU’s SURE program contributed,” states the central bank in a communiqué.
This transfer was made at the end of May in the form of a loan with low interest rates to protect jobs and help pay for other costs resulting from the pandemic.
The Portuguese treasury entity IGCP estimates that Portugal saves between €14 million to €15 million per year just with this first tranche of €3Bn which was received in December from a total loan amount of €204 and €219 million.
Portugal will have to begin repaying the money from the European Commission from SURE in eight years time.