Lisbon, Mar. 2, 2026 (Lusa) - Public debt according to Maastricht criteria, which counts for Brussels, increased by around €6.1 billion in January to €280.857 billion, according to data released by the Bank of Portugal (BdP) on Monday.

This development “reflected the increase in debt securities (+€5.2 billion), notably a syndicated bond issue and two Treasury bond auctions, and loans (+€0.6 billion), both mainly long-term,” the BdP said.

Compared to the same month in 2025, the increase was €6.428 billion.

With this increase, public debt approached November's figures (€291.383 billion), after falling to €274.776 billion in December.

The institution led by Álvaro Santos Pereira also indicated that public administration deposit assets reached around €21.8 billion, an increase of around €8.4 billion from December.

“After deducting these deposits, public debt fell by €2.3 billion to €259.1 billion,” the BdP added.

JO/ADB // ADB.

Lusa