The official line out of Portugal Wednesday was that the country can meet all its financing needs and is not asking for any aid from the European Union.
The results of Wednesday’s auction of Portuguese debt left many wondering how long that stance would continue.
A €455 billion auction of 12-month bills went off at an average yield of 5.902%, up from 4.3331% from the previous auction of 12-month bills. The €550 billion of 6-month bills hit a yield of 5.117. Yield on 10-year Portuguese sovereigns hit 9% yesterday.
And now Portuguese finance minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos may be conceding that the country needs a bailout.
Jornal de Negocios is reporting that the finance minister has said that Portugal needs to ask for help.
"The country has irresponsibly pushed a very difficult situation in financial markets. Given this difficult situation, which could have been avoided, I think it is necessary to refer to available funding mechanisms in the European context as appropriate to the current political situation. This will require also the involvement and commitment of major forces and political institutions,” the minister says. (The original is in Portugese. This was translated by Google Translate.)
The Portuguese finance ministry has now confirmed that the country needs aid from the EU.
(Hat tip to Zerohedge, which was the first English language outlet to catch the report.)
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