Portugal 'Will Not Quit Eurozone'

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Portugal will not quit the eurozone despite the difficult financial circumstances, the country's Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos said in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday.

"We are very far from that scenario, I don't think the situation will lead to such an outcome," he told the BBC World Service's Business Daily programme.

Portugal's budget deficit was estimated at 9.3% of gross domestic product in 2009 - more than three times over what E.U. rules allow.

Teixeira dos Santos said the government was ready to cut-down on expenditure to control its bulging budget deficit and dismissed the possibility of the government needing a bailout to get out of its fix.

"I would not say yes to a bailout, because we have to make important reforms and corrections," said Teixeira dos Santos

"Such a kind of a bailout would look like some kind of anaesthesia that will not correct what we should correct. We have to face the public finance situation and correct it with our own efforts," he added.

Portugal will not quit the eurozone despite the difficult financial circumstances, the country's Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos said in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday. (Market News Provided by RTTNews)