The government is raising VAT and social security contributions in a plan to restore the drop in wages paid to civil servants and in pensions, over the next five years.
The Government is to increase the standard VAT rate by 0.25% to 23.25% and contributions to Social Security to 11.2% and promises to restore the wage cuts by 2020.
The 12th and final review of the Troika has been completed, but it is not all over as the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank that make up the Troika again have insisted on deep and durable changes in Portugal which represent a "break with the past."
The Troika statement was mirrored by an address by Paulo Portas, the deputy prime minister, at a press conference this afternoon and noted that the economy is making a stronger recovery than anticipated, Portugal’s access to international funding markets has improved "markedly," and structural reforms demanded by lenders have been implemented.
The eurozone welcomed a slight drop in its average unemployment rate.
Unemployment in March stood at 11.8%. Although this was the same as the previous month, it is down from 12% in March 2013.
Real wages in the UK have suffered a drop of nearly 8% over the last six years.
The average person in work is now some £2,000 worse off since the financial crisis hit, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) which called the fall “unprecedented”.
The Wiltshire town of Amesbury has been confirmed to be the oldest continuous settlement in all of the UK.
The broad area includes Stonehenge.
The trial of the 46 defendants of the 'Bosnian Mafia,' who are lined up to face charges of conspiracy, aiding illegal immigration, various scams, theft, forgery, domestic violence and mistreatment of minors, should rid Portugal of 'one gang crime wave' that stretched from the north of Portugal to the shores of the Algarve.
Sixteen of those involved have been held in jail since October 2012 following their arrests in a joint operation between the GNR and the Borders Police (SEF).
The founder of Banco Comercial Português (BCP,) Jardim Gonçalves, was sentenced today to two years in prison, suspended upon payment of €600,000, for the crime of market manipulation.
The shamed founder of BCP considered that his conviction is a "painful moment" but has every hope of being acquitted on appeal and has yet to apologise for his actions as one of the country's top bankers.
Hot on the heels of a failed IT project to link the Algarve’s councils with a fibre-optic system, the insolvent company Globalgarve is pressing ahead with another project to invest €3.3 million in digital billboards, using EU funds.
The Business Association of the Algarve (ACRAL), which also owned the publication ‘O Algarve,’ - also failed – now is run by Victor Guerreiro, as is Globalgarve – Cooperação e Desenvolvimento, SA.
