The interest on Portuguese sovereign debt that the country has to pay back to investors who bought government treasury bonds went up seven times during the course of 2022 says Negócios.
The increase in interest was largely down to the European Central Bank’s decision to vastly scale down financial stimuli (such as buying sovereign bonds) which pushed up yields on government borrowing all over the European Union.
And although Portugal benefitted from the greater confidence of the ratings agencies, Portugal paid the price all the same.
2022 marked the end of cheap government borrowing on the international markets at negative or virtually zero interest rates.
Spiralling inflation at 9.9% in November, and the ECB’s decision to raise interest rates by 50bps during its last monetary policy meeting of 2022, making a fourth hike following two consecutive 75bps hikes, took the deposit facility to 2%, the refinancing rate to 2.5% and the marginal lending rate to 2.75%, a level not seen in 14 years.
That has translated into the yields on Portuguese 10-year bonds standing at 3.60% on Friday, December 30, according to the over-the-counter interbank yield quotes for Portugal’s bond maturity.
Source: Essential Business