After the “successful approval” of the restructuring programme, “we will now, next week, inject another €530 million into TAP”, said the finance minister.

João Leão was speaking to journalists at the Ministry of Finance, in Lisbon, after today the National Institute of Statistics (INE) released the Quarterly National Accounts by Institutional Sector that reveal that Portugal recorded a surplus of 3.5% of GDP in the 3rd quarter of the year, which compares with a deficit of 4.2% in the same period of the previous year.

The minister also reiterated that the Government hopes to meet the deficit target set for the year as a whole, which is 4.3%, stressing that if there is any deviation, it will be towards staying below this target.