Portugal’s Minister for the Economy Manuel Caldeira Cabral (pictured) has sailed through a potentially tricky interview on the Bloomberg news channel, saying that Portugal has turned the page in growth and believes that the country will exit the excessive deficit procedure.
Cabral talked about the Brussels attacks, the growth of the Portuguese economy, the euro and the Portuguese financial system, specifically Novo Banco and the €1.8 billion ‘bail in’ that left creditors with a fraction of their investments.
"Portugal had to face globalisation with the wrong expertise. The last ten years have been hard for the country. The structure of exports is now entirely different. For example, we doubled our exports to the United States. We are experiencing very interesting growth,” said Cabral, adding that Portugal has been able to "turn the page on growth."
The Minister of Economy, who gained an economics degree from the University of Nottingham, believes that this year the country will exit the excessive deficit procedure and will achieve a deficit below 3% of gross domestic product.
Cabral said that the "Portuguese banking system’s problems are being solved."
For the full interview in English, click on:
