In a timeframe that has become long and bendy, Portugal’s Finance Minister, Mário Centeno, said today that he hopes the process of selling Novo Banco will be completed "in the coming weeks."

"The expectation is that this process will take place in the coming weeks, but I would not like to set a date because there are negotiations that involve not only the European Central Bank but also other relevant actors in this process," the minister said in Lisbon at a joint press conference with the French Minister of Finance, Michel Sapin, in which they addressed the future of the European Union.

The recession which has enveloped Brazil for the last two years is reported to be the worst on record.

The latest figures show that the economy shrunk by 3.6% in 2016, leaving the country’s economy smaller by 8% than it had been in 2014. This is the sharpest retraction since records began.

More than half of the fast-moving consumer goods market in Portugal is made up of private label* brands, but they account for only one-third of the value of supermarket sales.

These figures from the third edition of the study "Brands + Consumers", a partnership of Centromarca and Kantar Worldpanel, which focuses on the evolution of the fast-moving consumer goods market in Q4 2016, as reported by Diário de Noticias.

At least four million home owners in Portugal are being overcharged when paying their their property rates bills (IMI), warns the consumer watchdog, Deco

The coefficients that go into the long and complicated equation used to calculate the annual property tax have been set so that, on average,  each householder is paying an extra €100 or more.

The Public Prosecutor in  Faro has now charged 29 suspects with corruption, fraud and criminal association.

The defendants include a court official who is accused of slipping minimum price details to others for vehicles due to be auctioned off by the State so bids could be lodged at just over the lowest acceptable price, or just over any other bids.

Fortunately for the Portuguese taxpayer, the gentlemen at the British auction house, Christie’s, have agreed to cancel the contract to sell the Joan Miró collection, without requiring payment or seeking damages.

The Finance Ministry today announced that Parvalorem and Parups have reached an agreement with Christie’s to rescind the sale by auction agreement for the collection of 85 works by the Spanish painter.

Portugal is on a short-list of two countries of which easyJet will request a local Air Operator’s Certificate due to post-Brexit complications if it wants to keep flying on European routes outside the UK.

The airline’s management has been in talks with the Portuguese government over registering an affiliate company in Portugal so it can keep running easyJet domestic operations across Europe.

Ana Mendes Godinho, the Secretary of State for Tourism, said the Alojamento Local system for short-term rentals has been a key part of the success of the booming tourism sector, accounting for 10% of overnight stays last year, provising  12% of the number of total beds available to tourists.

Godinho was speaking at a review of 2016 tourism figures organised by the Associação de Restauração e Similares de Portugal and was expected to announce her review of the Alojamento Local system and list the changes that she was going to make.