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Sweden set to opt out of Portugal bailout
Apr 9, 2011, 12:34 GMT
Godollo, Hungary - Sweden is unlikely to contribute to Portugal's bailout with an additional bilateral loan because the country has been too slow to ask fellow European Union partners for aid, Finance Minister Anders Borg said Saturday.
Non-euro member Sweden is, however, still likely to contribute with about 1 billion euros to EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to Portugal, Borg said.
However, his country is unlikely to act as it did in a previous bailout for Ireland, when it also chipped in with a supplementary bilateral loan, the minister said.
Portugal applied for help Thursday because it does not have money to cover its debt refinancing needs starting from June, leaving about two months for details of the bailout to be negotiated and cash to finance it to be raised.
EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Friday the country might need about 80 billion euros (115 billion dollars) from a combination of EU, eurozone and IMF rescue funds.
'That is a very, very strong demand from a a member country to other member states, to push for such a large amount with very limited time. I think there is very good ground for criticism here,' Borg said in Godollo, Hungary, after a meeting with EU counterparts.
'It would have been much better if (Portugal's bailout request) had been done in the autumn,' he said.
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