Plans formed in 2013 by Portugal’s national tourism agency are paying off.
The development of tourism promotion using the internet is reaping positive results and has contributed to the reduction of Turismo de Portugal’s multi-million expenditure by at least 30%.
Police today gathered in Praia da Luz and then moved with their geo-radar equipment and sniffer dogs to a search area overlooking the holiday resort.
Two dozen officers from Portugal’s Judicial Police and Britain’s Scotland Yard were outnumbered by three dozen members of the press, eager to cover the story that has been running since 2007.
Portugal’s Constitutional Court has rejected three items in the 2014 State Budget but luckily for the treasury the judges’ decisions will not be backdated, but the financial hole will have to be plugged by an increasingly frustrated Treasury.
At issue was a cut in salary for state workers earning over €675, a 5% cut in sick pay, a 6% cut in unemployment benefit and changes to widows’ pensions. All have been rejected as cost saving measures.
Manufacturing output in the eurozone slowed during the month of May, despite having expanded during the previous 11 months.
At the same time, the overall health of the area’s economy was still up by 0.5%.
The average person in the UK relies heavily on the use of debit cards and uses cash for purchases of just £9.47.
Shoppers have switched to the use of debit cards, credit cards and make more purchases online. While cash is still in play, the number of transactions and the average amount spent has fallen year-on-year.
The world’s first corruption tourist agency is claimed to be in the Czech Republic.
Corrupt Tours’ intention is to focus on corruption and the problems it creates, according to its founder Petr Sourek.
Portugal’s top high street banks, CGD, Millennium BCP, BES, BPI, Banif and Montepio have between them needed a total capital injection of €18.1 billion since 2008.
The figure is made up from capital increases and state aid.
Even Finance Minster, Maria Luís Albuquerque, acknowledges Portugal’s "very high debt" with the inclusion of the debts of the national railway company, and Oporto and Lisbon’s rail transport networks.
Portugal's total debt, as calculated using the Maastricht formula which allows comparisons between EU countries, rose in late April to €225.9 billion, an increase of €5.2 billion from the previous month, according to an announcement by the Bank of Portugal.
