LISBON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho on Wednesday urged all political parties in the debt-ridden countries to dedicate to the economic development and abandon partisan wrangling.
After talks with his visiting Swedish counterpart Fredrik Reinfeldt in the northern city of Porto, Passos Coelho told a news conference that the government is concentrating on the economic development and job creations in hopes of overcoming the economic crisis as soon as possible and regaining the sovereignty over the controversial state budget which took effect on Jan. 1.
He said that the economic outlook is not so optimistic but the situation is improving steadily. He believes that Portugal will regain confidence from the financial market which it will return to and the country's economy will be more competitive as long as his government keeps on implementing the austerity measures.
On the possible ruling on the 2013 budget by the Portuguese Constitutional Court as unconstitutional, the prime minister refrained from predicting the verdict. Portugal is at a historic moment and everyone in the country should fulfill his obligations, he added.
He also said that he agreed with President Anibal Cavaco Silva's comments on the bickering between the ruling parties and the opposition.
Earlier in the day, Cavaco Silva said that only the increases in investment and export can help Portugal get out of its economic difficulties. The political struggles between parties will be no help with economic growth and they will not create any job opportunities either, he warned.
The discontent of the Portuguese opposition with the government has been growing recently. Secretary General of the Socialist Party Antonio Jose Seguro is to submit to the parliament a non-confidence motion against the government over its tough austerity measures widely blamed for the deepening economic recession and high unemployment rate in the country.
Portugal is implementing harsh austerity measures in return for the 78-billion-euro (about 101-billion-U.S. dollar) bailout from the troika comprising the European Union, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank. The move has triggered widespread protests across the country in recent months.
The Portugal Bank said on Tuesday that country's economy will contract by 2.3 percent, the same rate as the government had previously predicted.
Strong wind, thunder hit Liuzhou City in S. China's Guangxi
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