LISBON, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Monday praised EU's decision to close the country's excessive deficit procedure and praised the Portuguese for their sacrifices in the past years.
"Today is a day to congratulate the Portuguese. This decision was only possible due to their sacrifices over many years," Rebelo de Sousa said.
"Tomorrow is a day for all of us to start working to convert today's decision into what matters: more confidence, more investment, more growth and more employment," he told journalists following a seminar about euthanasia at the faculty of medical sciences in Lisbon.
The decision on behalf of the European Commission to recommend the Economic and Financial Affairs Council to close Portugal's excessive deficit procedure was revealed on Monday at the presentation of the European Spring Semester Package.
The European Commission has pointed out that Portugal managed to reduce its deficit to 2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (DGP) in 2016, below the 3 percent threshold in the Stability and Growth Pact, and that according to the next economic forecasts the deficit will be below the 3 percent ceiling in both 2017 and 2018.
Portugal's exiting the excessive deficit procedure will be a turnaround for a country that in 2011 had to sign a 78-billion-euro bailout program with international lenders when it was on the verge of bankruptcy.
The previous administration led by Pedro Passos Coelho introduced harsh spending cuts and tax hikes to cut the deficit, but the current Socialist government led by Antonio Costa decided to reverse austerity and has shocked sceptics by cutting the deficit to the lowest level in around 40 years.
Portugal's debt remains very high, at over 130 percent of GDP, and only Canadian rating agency DBRS rates the country's debt as investment.
