The hearing was requested by the CDS-PP and had votes in favor from all parliamentary groups present, including the PS.
The Budget and Finance Committee today approved the urgent hearing of Fernando Medina, former Minister of Finance and current PS deputy, to give explanations on the reduction of public debt. The hearing was requested by the CDS-PP and had votes in favor from all parliamentary groups present, including the PS.
Paulo Núncio announced the request, during the CDS congress, accusing the previous government, of which Fernando Medina was Minister of Finance, of having made an “artificial reduction” of the debt with “pension money”.
The parliamentary leader of the CDS said that the Technical Budget Support Unit (UTAO) “warned that the debt reduction carried out by the socialist government in 2023 was merely artificial” and that “it was only made using money from the Security Financial Stabilization Fund Social and Caixa Geral de Aposentações”.
Paulo Núncio considered this situation “of enormous gravity” and that the former minister has to answer to parliament.
Last week, UTAO warned that the reduction in public debt in 2023 was “artificial” and that there are cases in which financial management options were conditioned by guidelines from the past Government.
The public debt ratio stood at 99.1% of GDP in 2023 and in nominal terms decreased by 9.3 billion euros compared to the previous year, to 263.1 billion euros.
