Post-rescue Portugal holds landmark bond sale

Treasury secretary Maria Luis Albuquerque said Portugal will pay interest of 4.9 percent on the loan — an affordable rate and a sign of returning market confidence in Portugal. She said investors placed orders for more than 12 billion euros and 93 percent of the sold amount went to foreign buyers.

“This was clearly a significant step in the (bailout) program,” Albuquerque told a news conference.

The sale was the latest sign that the 17-nation euro area is over the worst of its three-year financial crisis as borrowing costs have recently fallen in countries such as Spain and Italy, which were previously seen as risky investments due to their high debt burden.

Portugal was the third country, after Greece and Ireland, to fall victim to the eurozone's financial crisis when it required a 78-billion-euro lifeline in May 2011 to avert bankruptcy.

The country's fiscal health has improved since it began enacting cutbacks and economic reforms demanded in return for the bailout. However, the austerity measures are widely blamed for a forecast third straight year of recession in 2013 and a jobless rate of 16.3 percent.

Albuquerque said the Treasury didn't sell more bonds Wednesday because it doesn't need the money.

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