João Moreira Rato, the chairman of Portugal’s debt management agency IGCP, said there are many international investors interested in new Portuguese debt issues.
Rato’s argument is that with the opposition finding some common ground with the government on the reform of company taxation rates there now is a good argument to convince international investors to acquire Portuguese debt.
Rato indicated that the agency which he chairs plans to return to the markets before the end of the rescue plan in May by issuing five or ten year bonds.
The summertime political crisis did not help plans to convince investors that all was well but now that there had been a period of relative calm leading to a reduced perception of risk, and the 2014 budget had been passed with little disruption, he was keen to press ahead in January and May with issuing government bonds.
Even the general secretary of the socialists, António José Seguro, has stated that Portugal, like Ireland, must "return to the markets cleanly" and without any external support but added a note of caution as his perception is that Portugal is entering the new year under a cloud of uncertainty.
"We will finish the programme of financial assistance at the end of the first half of this year, and we do not know what will happen to our country," said António José Seguro who mirrored the government’s unspoken concern as to whether a second form of financial assistance will be needed, and whether more cuts and tax rises will be imposed to pay for more funding.
