The International Monetary Fund says there are some cases in the Portuguese banking system that require "corrective action."
A brief statement was issued in which the IMF acknowledged current problems in the banking sector in Portugal, mentioning no names but referring to Portugal’s second largest bank, BES and it parent the Espírito Santo Group.
The public-private partnership for the Via do Infante A22 toll road across the Algarve has been re-negotiated, as has the deal for the A28 in the north of the country.
According to estimates from the Secretary of State for Transport, Sérgio Lemos, the savings will be €178 million over the life of these two contracts, for the Algarve's motorway this is until 2023.
The First World War started 100 years ago and Portugal’s little-known role in the conflict is being celebrated in an exhibition in Silves where locals who went to the front are remembered with many of their records and photographs on display.
This exhibition has been organised by the municipal archivists and heroic names such as Coronel João Ortigão Peres from Alcantarilha are given due prominence.
The population of Spain at the end of last year numbered 46.5 million, down, for a variety of reasons, some 220,000 since the year before.
The country’s Institute for National Statistics reported that the trend of Spanish residents migrating abroad gathered pace during 2013, with 548,000 people leaving. While nearly 80,000 were Spanish, the remaining 468,500 were foreign nationals, including 4,588 Brits.
The restaurant chain Pizza Express has been sold to a Chinese company.
Hony Capital, a private equity firm, is believed to have paid some £900m for the chain in an auction in which interest was shown by other Chinese and European investment firms.
Over a hundred protestors gathered at the Barlavento Hospital to voice their opinions against the probable closure of the maternity unit and to call for the resignation of the entire board of directors of the Hospitals of the Algarve Group.
A on-the-spot vote was taken at the protest and it was unanimously decided that the maternity unit should stay open, and that the board, headed by the controversial Dr Pedro Nunes, should all be sacked.
If the expected Pestana deal goes through, the largest hotel chain in the country would keep the ‘Tivoli’ brand in some units, according to Dionisio Pestana, president of the Pestana Group
Espírito Santo Group, through its insolvent Rioforte subsidiary, said today that its 14 Tivoli hotels are all up for grabs.
Banco Espirito Santo today rejoined Portugal’s stock exchange and despite two ratings downgrades the stock rose on re-entry.
The Bank of Portugal issued a statement saying that there was no danger of BES being unable to cover what it owes and that there was no risk to global markets.
