The Portuguese Confederation of Construction and Real Estate is delighted for its members as the amount spent on real estate under the Golden Visa scheme is predicted to reach €2 billion next year.

The scheme to lure already wealthy foreigners to Portugal already has attracted €750 million in investment in real estate and a tax exemption for foreign retirees has attracted 3,000 families to Portugal in an attempt to replace the tens of thousands of young workers who have left the country to pay tax elsewhere.

The European Central Bank has decided to take no action this month, other than warning that Russia’s boycott of food items from the EU could harm the region’s economic recovery.

Interest rates are fixed just where they were last month, including the refinancing rate of 0.15% and other rates cuts introduced in June to stimulate growth.

Despite the criticism he received during the TV debate on independence for Scotland, First Minister Alex Salmond is sticking to his guns and still insisting that Scotland will retain sterling if independence is voted for.

He said a formal currency union with the rest of the UK was the best option, saying: "It's Scotland's pound and we are keeping it."

Interest rates in the UK have been kept at 0.5%, where they have been for 65 months since March 2009.

The Bank also announced the its economic stimulus programme would remain at £375bn.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that a London hedge fund may have made profits of $27 million in shorting BES shares.

Tens of millions of dollars of profit may have resulted from betting on the collapse of Banco Espírito Santo as hedge funds, mysteriously ‘in the know,’ bet on its share price falling.

The former mayor of Tavira, and latterly of Faro, Macário Correia is intent on his "right to the restitution of truth" and the reinstatement of his "good name" after his long-running legal battle which culminated in his removal from office.

Correia says he has the "right to his good name," and announced today he is to appeal the sentence of removal from office having been found guilty of the illegal licensing of building works when mayor of Tavira.

In an attempt to deflect any blame for the crisis that has finished looming and now envelopes the Algarve’s health service, the Regional Health Administration said today that the new Hospitals of the Algarve management body that runs Faro, Portimao and Lagos hospitals received "a total of €74 million between 2011 and 2013."

These additional funds were for the "financial recovery" of the hospitals and for paying long-overdue invoices from suppliers, some of which had been waiting for years.

With the financial crisis receding, Brits are again looking to buy property abroad.

Foreign purchases declined by 80% during the six year global meltdown, but foreign exchange firm HiFX says interest is now bouncing back.