Presidential candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo urged caution today to avoid returning to the “red zone of public accounts,” warning that this recent specter could reemerge in Portugal without control.
“We must be careful with the control of public debt (…). We need to be cautious so that we are not affected suddenly, returning to the red zone of public accounts. If we return to the red zone, the specter of our recent past could quickly haunt us, and I would not wish for that,” Henrique Gouveia e Melo stated.
While in Felgueiras, Porto district, visiting the Carité shoe factory after also visiting the Calvelex textile factory in Lousada, the former admiral praised the “dynamism and resilience capacity” of these sectors. However, when questioned about the recently released public debt figures, he issued warnings.
“We live in a weakened economy, with a fragile international system, largely based on tourism,” he said.
According to figures released by the Bank of Portugal on Monday, public debt, measured according to the Maastricht criteria used by Brussels, increased by 5.959 billion euros in September, marking the 10th consecutive monthly increase, reaching 294.319 billion euros.
The central bank noted that the increase reflected “the rise in long-term debt securities and savings certificates,” amounting to approximately 5.7 billion euros and 500 million euros, respectively.
In nominal terms, this is the highest value ever recorded in the BdP series, which dates back to 1995.
