S&P ponders a Portuguese downgrade

Portugal is under pressure from all sides. One week after Brussels announced that the €500 billion earmarked to finance the European Financial Stability Fund will only be available in 2013 - and interest on national debt reached a new high of 7.5% - Standard & Poor's is to decide this weekend whether to downgrade Portugal’s credit rating, leads Diário Económico. The deterioration of Portugal’s growth prospects, along with its excessive dependence on the European Central Bank are some of the points that worry the agency, the business daily notes. In November, Diário Económico recalls, S&P threatened a downgrade if the country’s growth and deficit figures worsened. It was followed by Moody`s in December.