The Portuguese market was trading lower at mid-session, in line with Europe, while investors wait for the Federal Reserve’s decision this afternoon.

The credit rating agency said on Monday that Portugal should be able to achieve its revised fiscal targets for 2013 and 2014, as it expects its economy to stabilise until the end of the year.

The new institution is due to provide a new model for EU funding.

João Marques da Cruz, the EDP director with responsibility for liaising with CTG, made clear that Mozambique looked the better prospect among African countries with strong links to Portugal, given that its grid has cross-border interconnections.

The National Statistics Institute revised down Portugal’s first quarter GDP, showing a decrease of 4% compared to the same period last year. This was the second biggest drop since records began.

The simplified corporate tax system would be optional for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Trade union confederations UGT and CGTP will join efforts for the general strike convened for 27 June which seem to be gaining in consensus across the public sector.

The EU says the government will manage to cover its financing needs until the end of the programme in June 2014, including the roll-over of a September €5.8bn bond.

The overall unemployment rate went up 0.1 percentage points between March (17.7%) and April while the number of people under 25 without a job rose by more that 1 percentage point from 41.2% to 42.5%.