Portugal unions strike over austerity measures

[Joanne98]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Portuguese labor unions mounted a general strike on Wednesday, pressing the government to scrap austerity measures intended to ward off a debt crisis that is spreading through the euro zone.

After Ireland's decision to seek assistance from the EU and IMF, investors are turning their attention to other financially weak euro zone nations like Portugal.

Any wavering in the Socialist government's commitment to austerity measures could push up Portugal's borrowing costs in the same vicious spiral that forced Dublin and before it Athens to seek rescues. A Reuters poll showed a majority of economists expect Portugal to seek a bailout.

As the country's two biggest unions stopped trains and buses, grounded planes and halted services from healthcare to banking on Wednesday, the spreads of 10-year Portuguese bonds over German benchmarks hit a euro lifetime high


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AN3ZX20101124