A bailout for Portugal may total as much as 70 billion euros ($99 billion), said two European officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
A financial lifeline would be between 50 billion euros and 70 billion euros, said the officials who declined to be named because the issue is confidential. Portugal has not yet asked for a bailout. The figures remain preliminary, the officials said. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc estimates the cost of a rescue at about 80 billion euros.
Portugal moved closer to external aid after Prime Minister Jose Socrates’s offer to resign left his government in limbo on the eve of today’s European Union summit to address the region’s debt crisis.
