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Portuguese finance minister resigns

02 July 2013 04:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva accepted on Monday the resignation of Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar, who is to be replaced by Maria Luis Albuquerque, the secretary of state of treasury in the government, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The Portuguese presidential palace said in a statement that Gaspar had been removed from his post on "his own request" and that Albuquerque would be appointed "to the same post."

Albuquerque is to be sworn in as new finance minister on Tuesday afternoon.

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said in a statement that during his two-year service as finance minister, Gaspar has dedicated himself to safeguarding the national interests and overcome difficulties with great dedication and loyalty and well carried out his duty.

Neither of the statements gave any reason for the resignation of Gaspar. However, the Lusa News Agency said that Gaspar submitted his resignation to Passos Coelho in October last year.

This is the second minister in the coalition government to leave office after Miguel Relvas stepped down as minister of parliamentary affairs in April following a scandal with his university degree.

It is reported that all the junior finance ministers or secretaries of state automatically lose their posts when a minister leaves office.

After the parliamentary elections in June 2011, Portugal's PSD or Socialist Democratic Party and CDS/PP or People's Party formed a coalition government with Gaspar appointed by Passos Coelho as finance minister.

While Gaspar was in office, the Portuguese government has been implementing a series of tough austerity policies to win the 78-billion-euro (102-billion-U.S. dollar) bailout from the troika comprising the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

The government move has triggered outrages among the Portuguese people who frequently took to the streets in protest against the government.