MIGUEL A. LOPES/LUSA
João Paulo Oliveira shows the flooding of the lower floor of his house in Montemor-o-Velho due to the rising waters of the Mondego River
The Minister of Finance revealed that 250 million euros have already been transferred to the CCDR, adding that they have the means to pay local authorities and populations affected by the bad weather from next week.
Joaquim Miranda Sarmento revealed, in an interview with RTP, that a transfer has already been made to the Regional Coordination and Development Commissions (CCDR) of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and the Center, worth 250 million euros.
200 million euros are allocated to local authorities and 50 million euros to support the reconstruction of houses, explained the official.
The Minister of Finance highlighted that citizens with damages of up to five thousand euros can make a request to the CCDR, at .
“Just send photos of the damage and ask for the amount to be supportedjust as insurance companies are doing”, he stressed.
For people who have suffered damages between five thousand and ten thousand eurossupport can be request on the same portal and the respective chamber will “validate this damage”.
When asked when these amounts will be paid, he highlighted that from the next week the CCDR “already have the means to make these payments”.
Regarding aid to companies, the Minister of Finance said that there are two lines of credit, one for treasury, in the amount of 500 million euros, which on Thursday, the second day that Banco Português de Fomento opened its system to receive applications, had allocated 193 million euros to 547 companies.
The second line of credit, for investment and recovery of buildings and machinery, has 1,000 million euros and on Thursday it had already allocated 216 million euros to 891 companies, added Miranda Sarmento.
“Very soon companies will also have this valuethese construction credit lines grant companies a value of 100% of the loss, which later reduces the insurance value”, he detailed.
As an example, Miranda Sarmento mentioned that if a factory was destroyed and has a loss of 1 million euros, if you use the credit line you receive the full amount and then, when the insurance pays, if you receive 600 thousand euros, that amount is deducted from the loan.
These loans for construction and investment have a term of 10 years, with a grace period of 3 years and 10% will be non-refundable, being supported by the State Budget (OE), he added.
Miranda Sarmento also recalled that there is support for companies from Social Security (SS), lay-off support and exemption from SS contributions for six months.
Government wants to avoid returning to deficit
In the interview with RTP, Miranda Sarmento recalled that the State Budget for 2026 was constructed to have a “small surplus”, but highlighted that the “tragedy [que se regista] will have a significant budgetary cost, on the expenditure side”.
Miranda Sarmento pointed out as examples the support for the population, the reconstruction of public facilities, such as roads and railways, and the loss of revenue, with less VAT, IRS or exports.
“We will have a significant budgetary impact, it is not yet possible to estimate it. The budget path to balance public accounts was narrow in this year 2026,” added the government official, highlighting that although the 2025 budget result was “better than expected, the path became quite narrow again” with the current scenario caused by bad weather.
The Minister of Finance assured, however, that the Government will do everything to avoid a return to deficit and to maintain balanced public accounts.
“There is a great responsibility of the Government and, I hope, of the other political actors, that the country must maintain the balance of public and continue to reduce public debt”, he insisted.
Miranda Sarmento defended that the “good results” that the governments led by Luís Montenegro obtained in 2024 and 2025 give “confidence and credibility”, but recalled that he always anticipated that 2026 would be a “difficult year from a budgetary point of view”, due to having to execute 2.5 billion euros in loans from the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan)”.
