Finance minister says cost of living package is ‘effective, timely, prudent’
Fernando Medina reinforced on Tuesday that the package of support announced yesterday by the Portuguese government is "effective", "timely" and "prudent".
Portugal’s minister of finance, Fernando Medina, said on Tuesday that a package of support just announced by the government to shield households with some of the impact of inflation is “effective”, “timely” and “prudent” – all without jeopardising the country’s public sector budget deficit and debt targets.
“This is, first of all, a programme that is effective in responding to families,” he said at a news conference to detail the package of measures to support household incomes, estimated at €2.4 billion in terms of its cost, and which was approved on Monday in cabinet. “Effective because it tackles the phenomenon of inflation with the scale and challenges it poses. Effective because it is the largest programme in terms of scope that is known to have been carried out in our country.”
This is, he went on, “a programme that is prudent in relation to the country’s public finances” and sticks to current deficit and public debt targets.
In addition to Medina, the minister of the environment and climate action, Duarte Cordeiro, the minister of infrastructure and housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, and the minister of labour, solidarity and social security, Ana Mendes Godinho, also attended the joint news conference in Lisbon.
