LISBON (AFX) - Portugal's public deficit for 2006 will be lower than the 4.6 pct of gross domestic product initially forecast by the government, Prime Minister Jose Socrates said on Saturday.
'The available data, which are still provisional, let us know that the deficit for that year will be lower than the government prediction,' he told a meeting of his Socialist party in Lisbon.
He gave no new estimate for the 2006 public estimate, but earlier on Saturday weekly newspaper Expresso, citing unnamed sources, reported the government would soon announce a public deficit of 4.1 pct of GDP for last year.
Portugal posted a public deficit of 6.0 pct of GDP in 2005 -- double the 3.0 pct limit imposed on the 13 countries that use the euro currency.
The national statistics institute will release its public deficit figures for 2006 at the end of the month.
Socrates has raised taxes, stepped up the fight against tax evasion and cut benefits for public workers since coming to power in March 2005 in an effort to bring the deficit below the EU limit by the end of 2008.
Portugal's public deficit is forecast to fall from 3.7 pct this year to 2.6 pct next year.
newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/abr COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited