Portugal's public deficit reached 2.8 percent of GDP in the first half 2016, the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics said on Friday.

The deficit dropped from 4.6 percent last year, and from 3.2 percent in the three first months of 2016, according to the figures. During the second quarter of 2016, the deficit was 2.5 percent.

However, the results obtained in this first half of this year are above the government's target of 2.2 percent of GDP for 2016.

The centre-left Socialist government led by Antonio Costa, and supported by the Left Bloc and Communist Party, came into power in November, and has rolled back austerity measures taken after Portugal's 78 billion euro bailout in 2011.

While Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa has insisted he will manage to bring the deficit down comfortably below 2.5 percent, the IMF on Thursday warned the country was facing a "slow down" and predicted the country's budget deficit would be 3 percent this year.

Source : XINHUA