On Tuesday morning, the European economic affairs commissioner said that Portugal’s economic performance leading up to the exit from the excessive deficit procedure, deserved a more positive rating by the financial agencies.

The commissioner also stressed that the exit from the procedure last week “compensated the important efforts Portugal had made” and noted that although they had not altered the long-term outlook (which is still at ‘junk’ level) the rating agencies had noted a “positive orientation”.

Laster, the Portuguese prime minister, António Costa said it made “little sense” that the rating agencies has not changed the Portuguese rating as if nothing had changed since 2011, in the country’s economic and financial situation.