Prime Minister António Costa today assured Banif account holders that their funds are safe. This has not stopped thousands of clients withdrawing their cash amid fears that the bank is on the point of collapse.

Costa was not so comforting to those with shares in the troubled lender, the taxpayer being the major shareholder with 60.5% of Banif’s stock, as any rescue after Jan 1st 2016 might involve losses for shareholders and certain classes of depositors.

Italy’s coffers were down by €122 billion this year alone because of people and businesses failing to pay tax.

That figure was presented to the Italian government by the employers’ organisation Confindustria.

Former prime minister José Sócrates has denied that the €23 million deposited in Switzerland in 2010 was his, "This money is not mine, it's my friend Carlos Santos Silva’s. Full stop."

Sócrates also said that at some point in the future he willl be taking legal action against the Portuguese State and claiming damages.

Despite Banif’s management telling everyone that everything is just fine, while wringing an apology from TV24 whose recent report alluded to troubled times for the Madeiran bank, the Prime Minister António Costa this evening has called party leaders to a emergency meetings to discuss - Banif.

Costa is receiving parliamentary leaders at his official residence in São Bento “to analyse the financial situation at Banif,” according to official government sources.

The new Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, chose the Algarve in which to commence information finding sessions with Portugal’s various regional tourism bodies.

Godinho kicked off in Faro where she met the heads of the Algarve Tourist Board, the Intermunicipal Community of Algarve (AMAL) and David Santos from the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of the Algarve.

Real agricultural income in the EU fell by 6% in 2015 compared to 2014.

At the same time, agricultural labour input dropped 1.8%, making real agricultural income per worker fall by an average of 4.3%.

Lidl in Portugal is leading the way by raising the starting wage for full time staff to €600 a month next year, a rise of over 5% and one that highlights the national minimum wage of €505 pcm as somewhat less than adequate.

The German-owned supermarket’s statement today shows the Portuguese minimum wage is set too low and Lidl management talked of its “strong social responsibility policy that is an integral part of the company’s strategy.”

The number of people employed in the EU went up by 0.4% in the third quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter.

There were only three countries where a decrease in employment was recorded – Portugal (-0.5%), Croatia (-0.6%) and Malta (-0.3%).