Most of the European countries including Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain are not doing well because the economy of the continent is struggling to cope with the debt crisis. The nations are hoping for as bailout, or exit from the Euro.

The economy of Portugal is getting worse each day because major bad economic decisions have been made in the last years. The total cost for Portuguese consumers and taxpayers has been calculated at 700 million Euros this year. The cost of consumers and taxpayers is growing constantly and the unemployment rate is also going up.

Portugal’s Finance Minister, Jan Kees de Jager said in a letter to parliament, that Dutch banks the Dutch banks have 57.6 billion Euros outstanding in Spain, 33.9 billion in Italy, 12.5 billion in Ireland and 4.9 billion in Portugal. In total, the Dutch banks have 109 billion Euros in loans outstanding in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

De Jager said, “If Greece defaults, the danger of 'infection' will arise and the crisis will move to other EU countries such as Ireland, Portugal and Spain, the damages for Dutch banks will then be much greater.