The government at last is making available low-interest loans totalling €3.5 million to help Albufeira’s business community get back on their feet after last November’s devastating flood.

The Ministry of the Economy will provide low-interest loans with repayments periods of up to ten years to those financially affected by the floods. Each applicant is limited to €150,000 and there is a three year interest only period available.

Portugal’s Minister of the Economy appealed this Friday to the civic-minded nature of those Portuguese living near the border with Spain, asking them to fill up in Portugal as the government needs the money.

Minister Manuel Caldeira Cabral said that those filling up in Spain, where fuel currently is more than 30 cents cheaper, are depriving Portugal’s Treasury of tax revenue and that this is "bad" for Portugal’s public accounts.

Angola’s president, one of Africa’s longest-ruling leaders, announced on Friday that he will step down in 2018.

Jose Eduardo dos Santos gave no reason why he is leaving the post he has held since 1979 and gave no indication as to his preferred successor.

Pharol, the groovy new name for the once proud Portugal Telecom, appears to lack the Midas touch as its shares sink another 6% to an almost unbelievable historic low of 13.6 cents.

Pharol is listed in the PSI-20 worst performers so far this year as it has managed to lose its shareholders 48.7% of their investment since Jan 1st.

The Minister of Health is committed to ending "undue hardship" in the Algarve as calm descends on the strife-torn regional health service.

Minister Adalberto Campos Fernandes intends to encourage doctors and health professionals to move to the region, and gave as an example the creation of the Academic Centre for Research and Biomedical Training at the University of the Algarve.

The European Central Bank has cut interest rates in the eurozone to zero.

Its boss, Mario Draghi, implied that rates would remain “low, very low” for at least another year. But he added that “we don’t anticipate that it will be necessary to reduce rates further” unless new facts change the outlook.

A top quality olive oil has been produced for the first time from trees inside the high-security prison Sollicciano on the outskirts of Florence.

The project is designed to rehabilitate prisoners. It is the brainchild of the Marquis Frescobaldi who was also behind a rehabilitation scheme on a prison island where inmates produce 2,700 bottles of white wine each year which can sell for some €80 a bottle.

Portugal may be on the way to a new bailout, says the Wall Street Journal in an opinion article by the markets editor.

Pressure from the high cost of debt financing, rising interest rates, the continuing 2016 State Budget negotiations and Fitch's decision to cut Portugal’s rating, all are putting Portugal in the centre of widespread concerns over the eurozone.