Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates has said the country does not need any outside help to tackle its finances and that its budget deficit would be smaller than forecast in 2010.
He told reporters in Frankfurt that Portugal's public deficit for last year was smaller than expected, 'better than 7.3%' of GDP.
This morning, Portugal sold almost €1.25 billion in two bond auctions, with borrowing costs on its key 10-year bonds falling.
There was strong demand for the bonds, and the outcome is seen as lifting some pressure off the indebted country to seek a bail-out.
The amount sold came at the top end of the initially indicated range. The average yield on the June 2020 bond fell to 6.716% from 6.806% in the previous sale in November. The October 2014 bond yielded 5.396%, up from 4.041% in October's auction, but below the rates at which bonds had been trading in the market recently.
The gap between Portuguese and German borrowing costs - a key measure of investor confidence - also narrowed in today's bond auction.
Analysts say bond purchases by the European Central Bank in the secondary market this week averted a jump in Portugal's borrowing costs.
Portuguese bond yields - the rate of interest being sought by investors to buy debt previously issued by the country - have pushed over 7% since the beginning of the year.
That rate is widely seen as unsustainable. When Ireland last borrowed money in September, before requesting the EU/IMF rescue package, it came at a cost of 6.7% for 10 years.
