IMF Loans 26 Billion Euro To Portugal

The Washington D.C. based company approved a loan to Portugal in the amount of 26 billion euro earlier Friday. It then immediately gave 6.1 billion of that to the country to help ease any concerns people may have over Portugal’s debts.

We all understand that people need help in this day and age however how can a company, and a U.S. one at that, give another country a loan of that size when they have already proven that they cannot pay their debts in the first place. Portugal is a beautiful country however the amount of debt they owe is not.

The International Monetary Fund said on Friday that the total amount they are planning to give Portugal this year will include another 12.6 billion along with 25.2 billion from the European side of the European Union. Both parties are including these payouts as a funding of the 78 billion euro total bailout package they have constructed. Again, how can two countries that are failing in their own economic pursuits have companies that can shell out this kind of money? The U.S. was built on the thought that anyone can achieve prosperity and I believe none of us has an issue with that. However, when we all look at the issues at hand, most of us are dumbfounded on how a company can shell out that kind of money to help another country when the U.S. economy needs it more.

“The financing package is designed to allow Portugal some breathing space from borrowing in the markets while it demonstrates implementation of the policy steps needed to get the economy back on track,” the IMF said in a statement. Of course, under this new agreement, Portugal will have to carry out things like raising taxes, try to enforce a great privatization plan, reform its laboring issues and enforce spending cuts.

“The Portuguese authorities have put forward a program that is economically well-balanced and has growth and job creation at its center. It addresses the fundamental problem in Portugal – low growth – with a policy mix based on restoring competitiveness through structural reforms, ensuring a balanced fiscal consolidation path, and stabilizing the financial sector,” IMF Acting Managing Director John Lipsky said.

Of course, we can all point the finger to our government for getting us into the mess we are in. Since the inception of the U.S., our government has been fighting back and forth across the aisle and I believe that it has finally caught up with us. The United States is still, arguably, the best country to live in but we need to show outsiders that we can take care of our own.