Portuguese gov't announces tough budget for 2013

 Portuguese¹ gov't announces tough budget for 2013

LISBON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Portuguese government on Monday announced a tough budget for 2013 which highlights sharp tax hikes.

Finance Minister Victor Gaspar reiterated² that the country has no leeway to change the basic parameters³ of the austerity budget document, "which will test the viability⁴ of the country."

The supplement of 4 percent will remain on income tax which will go from the current 9.8 percent to 13.2 percent and spending cuts will account for less than 20 percent of the adjustments.

The government argues that it sees no other way than to "continue austerity until the expiry of Portugal's Economic and Financial Assistance Program (PAEF) and the difficult path towards fiscal⁵ consolidation⁶ which will inevitably⁷ involve sacrifices for all Portuguese."

Gaspar went on to say that he is confident that Portugal will need the help of the troika "shortly."

According to Gaspar, the fiscal effort required in 2013 will amount to 4.3 billion euros (5.6 billion U.S. dollars) and will be distributed "fairly" between labor⁸ income and capital, and between the public and private sectors⁹.

He said a "comprehensive set of consolidation measures" which have an "estimated impact of 4.3 billion euros will include the partial replacement¹⁰ of Christmas holiday subsidies¹¹ and tax revenues."

The Portuguese economy is not in danger of entering recessionary spiral, said Gaspar, stressing the importance of exports to pull the country out of the current crisis.

"So far there is no evidence for Portugal in a recessionary spiral," the minister said while presenting next year's budget in the Ministry¹² of Finance in Lisbon.

"Indeed, what has happened so far is that domestic demand has contracted more than anticipated but the contribution from external trade or our export growth has been higher than expected so these two effects has been compensated," said Gaspar.

"For the future, it seems to me, this external demand factor will grow boosted by improved financing conditions of our economy that we have seen in these past few weeks where not only has the Treasury¹³ managed to fund itself at favorable interest rates, but also some large Portuguese companies have seen a return to the bond market," he said.

Portugal's economy will "shrink by 1 percent next year, while the unemployment rate will climb to a new high of 16.4 percent," the minister said.

1 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

2 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

3 parameters   

因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素

参考例句：

• We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
• See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。

4 viability   

n.存活(能力)

参考例句：

• What is required to achieve or maintain such viability? 要达到或维持这种生存能力需要什么？
• Scientists are experimenting to find ways to ensure the viability of seeds for even longer periods of time. 正如我们所说，科学家正在试验努力寻找让种子的生命力更加延长的方法。

5 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

6 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

7 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

11 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

13 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。