Costa was speaking at the end of a visit to his old school, Liceu Passos Manuel, to mark the start of the academic year alongside Education Minister, Tiago Brandão Rodrigues.

Questioned by journalists about rating agency Moody’s ruling out the possibility of a second financial bailout for Portugal, the Prime Minister said, "I was never uneasy because I have always said it makes no sense, there is no place, for talking about any kind of bailout."

He told journalists that Portugal’s economic and financial framework had seen positive results in terms of controlling the deficit and resolving the issues of the banking sector.

"Portugal has had a very straightforward budgetary execution: This year (for the first time in many years) it will not only ne below the 3% target for the deficit, it will also be below the 2.7% target expected by the European Commission. And in fact we will even be comfortably below 2.5%,” the Prime Minister said.