Lisbon, April 1, 2026 (Lusa) – Portugal’s public debt under the Maastricht criteria rose by approximately €1.560 billion in February, reaching €282.711 billion, according to Bank of Portugal (the BdP) data released on Wednesday.

This evolution "reflected the increase in debt securities (+€1.9 billion), mainly due to positive net issuances of Treasury bills," the BdP said.

The central bank said that loans decreased by approximately €400 million.

"This decrease resulted from the scheduled repayment of €0.8 billion to the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which a new €0.3 billion tranche from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) partially offset," the institution said.

The debt rose by €8.344 billion compared to the same month in 2025.

The institution, led by Álvaro Santos Pereira, said that public administration deposit assets reached approximately €21.7 billion, matching the figure recorded in January.

"Net of these deposits, public debt increased by €1.6 billion to €261.0 billion," the BdP said.

JO/RYOL // AYLS

Lusa