Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa has said his government will keep up its drive to reduce public-sector debt, after the amount owed reached a new peak in May, Xinhua reports.

“Our goal is to maintain deficit reduction, maintain a positive primary balance and continue the path of debt reduction,” the Chinese government-run news agency quotes Mr Costa as saying.

The prime minister argued that public-sector debt should be gauged annually rather than monthly, saying that this year it would fall for the second year in a row.

Portuguese public-sector debt amounted to €250.313 billion (US$291.2 billion) in May, the most in any month since records began, Xinhua says.