“Austerity set to increase inequality in Portugal”

• Peter Wise no Financial Times:

‘According to a report this month by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, income inequality in Portugal is the highest in Europe. Sociologists and welfare groups fear that next year’s austerity budget, the harshest in living memory, together with record unemployment and a contracting economy, will widen the gap even further.

A new study for the European Commission by the UK’s Institute for Social and Economic Research says the austerity measures implemented in Portugal in 2010 were “clearly regressive”, causing the poorest families to give up a bigger share of their disposable income than wealthier households.’