Portugal to pay 5.1 pc average rate on bailout loan

May 17, 2011 | 14:28

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Portugal will pay an average interest rate of about 5.1 per cent on the 78-billion-euro ($110-billion) EU-IMF bailout agreed, its finance minister said.

Portugal's Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos sets up before an Eurogroup meeting at the EU Headquarters in Brussels on May 16, 2011- AFP

"The interest rate will depend on market conditions," Fernando Teixeira dos Santos was quoted by the Lusa agency as saying in Brussels.

Under current conditions, the average rate would vary between 5.0 per cent in the first three years and 5.2 per cent in following years, he said, adding that Portugal was to receive a first payment of 18 billion euros by the end of May or beginning of June.

European finance ministers on Monday backed a three-year 78-billion-euro EU-IMF bailout for Portugal on condition Lisbon embarks on a major raft of public sell-offs.

The ministers agreed unanimously to rescue Portugal, a statement said, making it the third eurozone country in the space of one year to receive a multi-billion-euro bailout after Greece and Ireland.

AFP

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