Summary Box: Portugal raises $2B in new debt (AP)

DEBT AUCTION: Portugal comfortably raised euro1.5 billion ($1.97 billion) in a short-term debt auction Wednesday. Borrowing costs were lower than they have been recently, and demand strong, the government debt agency said.

CONTEXT: Portugal has one of the 17-nation eurozone's feeblest economies and needed a euro78 billion ($102.5 billion) bailout last year to prevent it from going bankrupt.

PAIN: In return for the bailout funds, Portugal is cutting spending and raising taxes. That's hurt the Portuguese economy. The Bank of Portugal expects the economy to shrink by 3.1 percent this year.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120201/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_portugal_financial_crisis_summary_box

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