Akhir 26, 1432, March 31, 2011, SPA-- Portugal on Thursday admitted that its 2010 budget deficit was far higher than initially reported, increasing pressure on the country to seek an international bailout, according to dpa. The deficit was 8.6 per cent, instead of the initially given figure of 7.3 per cent, the statistics body INE said. The earlier figure did not yet take into account the losses suffered by some public transport companies and by a state-owned bank, which became known later on, the INE said. Yields for Portuguese bonds meanwhile continued hitting new euro-era records, with the yield for five-year bonds climbing to 9.18 per cent. Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, however, said the government was not about to seek a European Union-led financial rescue, because it did not have the "legitimacy" to do so. Portugal only has a caretaker government after Prime Minister Jose Socrates announced his resignation last week. President Anibal Cavaco Silva was expected to call early elections later on Thursday.
