Portuguese deficit forecast for 2010 raised

Portugal’s public deficit for 2010 was revised upwards to 9.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product against 8.6 percent announced earlier, the national statistics institute said Saturday.

Officials from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have been holding crisis talks with political and business leaders since this week to assess the state of public finances in Portugal, which is at risk of debt default in about eight weeks’ time.

The talks are part of an international rescue plan for Portugal worth an estimated 80 billion euros ($114 billion).

Lisbon has to have the package in place by June 15 when it has to repay nearly 5.0 billion euros ($7.3 billion) in maturing debt.