The Portuguese Government raised its growth forecast for 2015 and said it sees the economy accelerating in the following years.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to expand 1.6 percent this year, up from a previous estimate of 1.5 percent growth, Finance Minister Maria Luis Albuquerque said in Lisbon last week.

GDP is expected to grow 2 percent in 2016 and 2.4 percent in the next three years, she said. Ms Albuquerque was speaking at a press conference following the cabinet’s approval of the country’s Stability and Reform Plan.

Portugal, which received a bailout from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund in 2011, exited the aid plan last year without the safety net of a precautionary credit line.

The Government reiterated it targets a budget deficit equivalent to 2.7 percent of GDP in 2015; below the EU’s 3 percent limit. The shortfall will narrow to 1.8 percent in 2016 and Portugal will have a budget surplus of 0.2 percent in 2019, said the Finance Minister.

The Government forecasts a debt-to-GDP ratio of 124.2 percent in 2015 and 121.5 percent in 2016.