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The Government has not yet completely excluded the possibility of, in addition to subsidies, requesting loans from the European Mechanism for Recovery and Resilience (MRR), considering using this financing model in three specific projects.
In the preliminary version of the Recovery and Resilience Plan delivered this Thursday in Brussels, which lists the different projects for which it is expected to receive 14,000 million euros (at current prices) of grants from Brussels between 2021 and 2026, the Government also places the possibility of requesting the loan component of the MRR to make investments worth 4,295 million euros.
The investments in question refer to the components of the plan relating to the public stock of accessible housing (2,745 million euros), the capitalization of companies and the Development Bank (1,250 million euros) and the purchase of railway rolling stock (300 million euros). euros). euros).
The use of MRR loans appeared to have been shelved by the government. In principle, Portugal could have access to these credits, granted at reduced interest rates, amounting to 15.7 billion euros, but the Prime Minister, at the end of last June, when he presented the priorities of the plan The Portuguese recovery made it clear that increasing indebtedness was not in the Executive’s plans: “the option we have is to resort entirely to subsidies and we will not use the part related to loans until the country’s financial situation allows it.”
Now, in the document delivered in Brussels, the Executive continues by saying that “it has made the decision to maximize the use of European funds as subsidies and minimize the use of loans that can lead to an increase in public debt”, but adds that Still, there are three investments “that deserve a careful evaluation of their eligibility, and under what conditions, for the loan component of the MRR.”
To decide whether to always borrow these loans, the The government says it wants A “clarification” that has to do above all, a source from the Executive told the PUBLIC, with the possible possibility that these operations are not reflected in the assessment made by the European authorities on the evolution of the Portuguese public debt.
Thus, only if a “mechanism” is found to ensure that this financing will not be reflected in the public accounts in the portion related to indebtedness, does the Government admit that it can proceed – which justifies the inclusion of these funds in the preliminary document. delivered today to the European Commission. .
When the European fiscal rules come into force again (they will be suspended at least in 2020 and 2021), Portugal will once again be forced to reduce the public debt / GDP ratio year after year. The executive wants to make sure that the decision to borrow these loans does not complicate this task further. The 4,295 million euros of credit to be weighted represent approximately 2% of the Portuguese GDP.
“We present the task we have been doing: a program that, in addition to the general guidelines, already has the concrete identification of investment projects and the records of each of the components of that program. We are in a position to start working with the technical services of the Commission on the priorities defined, eligibility and amounts ”, declared the Prime Minister, António Costa, who delivered the document to the president of the community executive, Ursula von der. They read.
