: Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro bailout with the European Central Bank , International Monetary Fund and European Commission in 2011, according to Global Times China. The country is nursing itself back to financial health and has said it will repay the IMF 2 billion euros it owes earlier than scheduled. The Portuguese government has insisted that the country will manage to bring its budget deficit down to 2.7 percent of GDP. The IMF also said faster medium-term growth required further structural reforms. "Recent efforts to move forward with privatization, transport concessions and lowering natural gas prices for end-users have been encouraging, but reforms to increase the effectiveness of the public sector have continued to lag," the IMF said. "Labor market reforms to spur job creation remain a particular challenge, especially for lower-skilled workers, and fresh reform initiatives in this area would be desirable," the IMF said. Portugal paid the IMF 6.6 billion euros back in March.
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