DBRS says budget compromise and dialogue with partner support rating – Jornal de Negócios – Portugal

The rating agency DBRS – the only one of the four principal that assigns investment grade to Portuguese debt – stressed this Monday, April 25, that the Government’s commitment to the budgetary targets and the relationship between Portugal and Europe are positive for the rating of sovereign debt.

“it seems that the Government is committed to the program budget and that there is a healthy dialogue with the European Commission. These are two very important elements for our rating and outlook, “said Reuters chief analyst of the Canadian agency, Fergus McCormick, four days before the agency to comment on a possible degree of review and outlook for the national obligations.

Maintaining an investment grade is a necessary condition for the Portuguese obligations qualify for the asset purchase program of the European Central Bank, whose aim in March was increased from 60 to 80 billion euros per month.

the new declaration of DBRS come less than a week after the Government has approved in the Cabinet the stability program which will go to Brussels.

In it, the Government undertakes to achieve the budgetary targets in 2016 “with a rigorous budgetary execution,” as Finance Minister Mario Centeno, in order to end this year with a deficit of 2.2% of GDP and 1.4% of the product in 2017. a cut that is almost double what was anticipated in the Government program.

However, the government forecasts for economic growth by 2020 are always more optimistic than those of international institutions and the Council of Public Finance repairs, which found last week that p revisions of government “involve a high degree of uncertainty.”

the head of DBRS proved however worried about the reversal of some austerity measures by the PS government with the support of the left in Parliament, but stressed that DBRS has been “moderate” in recent years as regards the downgrading of debt of eurozone countries, in particular because it gives “more weight to the strong political will to preserve the united euro zone.”

Last February, DBRS said to be “comfortable” with the current classification that gives the Portuguese debt – BBB (low) with a stable outlook.

(updated news at 18:16 with more information)