The new centre-left Government in Portugal, led by Prime Minister António Costa, leader of the Socialist Party (PS), was sworn in on Thursday, news agency Reuters reported.

“The Government’s programme is a clear bet on turning the page on austerity,” said Mr Costa in his inauguration speech.

Mr Costa took office with a team of 17 ministers and 40 Secretaries of State. The Secretary of State for Internationalisation, Jorge Oliveira, has not yet been sworn in, as he was out of the country at the time, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported.

Portugal’s new Government took office two weeks after Portugal’s centre-left opposition parties ousted a short-lived centre-right minority Government via a parliamentary vote. A few days before the vote on that motion rejecting the centre-right administration’s programme, the PS, the Left Block party and the Portuguese Communist Party had announced they had forged agreements that would make an alternative centre-left government possible.

Portugal’s economy grew 0.9 percent last year, after contracting for three consecutive years. Portugal’s gross domestic product expanded by 1.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2015.

In May 2014 Portugal exited a three-year financial bailout programme organised by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.