AlQa'dah 16, 1433, Oct 2, 2012, SPA -- Portugal's Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar will unveil new austerity measures at a press conference on Wednesday, dpa cited local media as saying. Gasper has scheduled the press conference for 1500 GMT, the reports said Tuesday, quoting the centre-right government. The move comes after the government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho had to scrap plans to raise social security taxes in the face of mass protests. The government has since been looking for other tax hikes to meet budget targets demanded under Portugal's 78-billion-euro bailout. Those include raising capital, property, tobacco, and income taxes. In Brussels European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said the so-called troika representing the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund agreed to a change in a memorandum of understanding on the taxation matters. Portugal had been successful in restructuring its state debt until August when it reported a collapse in income tax collections as a result of the recession, saying it wouldn't reach its budget targets for 2012 without additional austerity measures. It also reported that the deficit would be 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product, which is 1.8 percentage points over the figure agreed with lenders. Some observers in Lisbon expect Gaspar to announce extraordinary recapitalization measures that will go into effect immediately.
