| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Portugal unveils tougher austerity cuts |
| 2011-10-15 |
| [Iran Press TV] The Portuguese government has unveiled its 2012 budget plan featuring tougher austerity measures to meet tough fiscal goals. The 2012 draft budget, which will be presented to parliament on Monday, is likely to include tougher austerity measures than originally planned, Rooters reported. Portugal will need to go further in 2012 than the budget austerity set out in its international bailout in order to meet its financial goals, analysts said as the government prepared to approve next year's budget. The Portuguese premier said the new austerity measures will include cuts in health and education spending. The government also wants to increase the legal working hours by half an hour and eliminate public workers' Christmas bonuses and vacation pay. Portugal which had received a 78-billion-euro bailout from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and International Monetary Fund in May is still failing to meet budget deficit reduction targets, despite a series of tax hikes and pay cuts. The additional austerity measures, expected to deepen Portugal's recession and increase unemployment, have caused a wave of protests and strikes in the country. |
| Posted by:Fred |