Madeira asks for help: the €1.5 billion loan
By Paulo Áureo
2012 began with a word nobody on the island wanted to learn: ajustamento. On 27 January Madeira’s government and Lisbon put their names to an Economic and Financial Adjustment Programme, the regional version of the bailout Portugal had signed with the troika a year earlier.
The figures were not small for an island of about 250,000 people. The State lent Madeira €1.5 billion at 3.375% interest, to help it manage a debt of more than €6 billion. In return came cuts, higher taxes and a long list of spending rules.
The loan is still being repaid. In 2019 the interest rate came down to 2.8%, which should save the region more than €100 million, and the last instalment is due in 2044. By then this blog will be 38.
Sources: Portuguese Government, interest on the State loan to Madeira, DNoticias, 2023