Will the Portuguese bail-out work?

It is not surprising that the positive market reaction to the initial details of Portugal’s package last week was short-lived. On the face of it, the bail-out may turn out to be more successful than the Greek or Irish packages have been so far. But Portugal still has a mountain to climb. After all, the economy is set to enter a prolonged recession. Portugal may yet struggle to achieve its fiscal targets. It may also take longer for Portugal to regain market-based finance at a reasonable rate of interest than the programme allows. Accordingly, the bail-out clearly does not put an end to Portugal’s troubles.