Lisbon:  Portugal's town halls face default amid €9 billion (Dh44 billion) of debt unless the government provides aid soon, said Fernando Ruas, president of the nation's association of municipalities.

"At a company we call it insolvency," Ruas said in a telephone interview from Lisbon on Wednesday. "It could happen that some town halls could have to restructure their debt if the government doesn't intervene."

Ruas blamed a sharp decline in money transfers from the government in Lisbon to municipalities for their growing financial woes. Portugal last year became the third euro-area country to request external aid, following Greece and Ireland. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho is cutting spending and raising taxes to meet the terms of the €78 billion rescue.

"A sharp decrease in money transfers has made it harder for many town halls to comply with their ongoing commitments," said Ruas. His association estimates town halls face about €9 billion in liabilities. About €1.5 billion of the total is in bills to suppliers overdue by more than 90 days while the remainder is mostly made up of debt to banks, he said.

The southern European country's 308 town halls and two semi-autonomous regions face similar issues to those of Spain, whose regions and municipalities have been shut out of capital markets due to the credit squeeze, leaving many bills to suppliers unpaid. Spain's government is offering them loans to help pay suppliers.

"The high level of indebtedness of town halls across the country is nothing new," said Joao Cesar das Neves, a professor of econ-omics at Lisbon's Catholic University. "The government had little control over the country's municipalities, which spent way beyond what is admissible, and now it is faced with a complicated problem."

More data

The government is currently obtaining more data on municipal finances, a spokesman for Parliamentary Affairs Minister Miguel Relvas said. "The information already made public shows that there are some town halls facing financial difficulties," Antonio Vale said by phone.

Portugal's island of Madeira said last year that its debt had risen to an unsustainable €6.3 billion, prompting the government in Lisbon to grant the semi-autonomous region €1.5 billion in aid in exchange for a pledge to increase taxes and cut spending.

Asked if the government may aid some cities and towns in a similar fashion, Vale said: "This is a different situation than Madeira." He declined to provide details on possible solutions being considered by the government.

Recession woes

Portugal's shrinking economy may make further help harder to come by. Gross domestic product declined for a fifth quarter in the three months through December and the jobless rate rose to 14 per cent. That may hurt efforts to cut the budget deficit to 4.5 per cent of GDP this year and within the European Union's 3 per cent limit in 2013.

The bailout plan assumes Portugal will regain access to medium and long-term sovereign debt markets in 2013, with the programme's last disbursement to be made in June 2014, the International Monetary Fund said in December.

Passos Coelho said in an interview on March 6 that if the country is unable to return to markets next year due to external factors, it would be able to count on the support of the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank.

Ruas said he met with government officials in recent weeks to discuss possible help for the debt-ridden municipalities.

"Nobody is expecting the government to forgive our debt," he said. "I'm hopeful the government will find a solution that will help municipalities meet their obligations in terms of paying suppliers on time and meet their debt obligations."

  • €78b: amount of Portugal's rescue package
  • €9b: amount faced by town halls in liabilities
  • €1.5b: bills to suppliers overdue by more than 90 days