1996 - 2006

The creation of the IGCP constituted an important step in the harmonious adaptation of the country to the Euro scenario, in order to achieve the high degree of financial specialization required for an efficient and rigorous exercise of the activity of issuing and managing public debt.

To ensure that the redenomination of debt from escudos to euros was a success, the IGCP equipped itself with the necessary means that allowed it to face a broad and competitive market.

There are two important instruments for issuing public debt:

• Treasury Bonds (OT); 
• Treasury Bills (BT).

These are placed in the primary market through specialized operators: the Specialized Operators of Treasury Securities (OEVT) and the Operators of the Primary Market (OMP) for the OT and the Specialists in Treasury Bills (EBT) for the BT.

In the year 2000, the Treasury Bonds FIP came to an end.

The years 2005 and 2006 are of great importance for Portuguese public debt, with the issuance of OT for 15 and 30 years, respectively, which allowed for an elongation of the Portuguese yield curve, similar to that recorded by other European sovereigns.

In this new phase (after 1999), with the aim of modernizing and dynamizing the Portuguese capital markets, as well as adapting to globalization, the Special Market for Public Debt (MEDIP) was created. Here, the OT and BT are traded through an electronic platform, with MTS-Portugal being created, the company responsible for the trading system.

With the changing times, the artistic mark of the emissions has disappeared with the dematerialization of public debt securities. However, the tradition of specialized and independent management of public debt, renewed in the context of the euro market and the broader globalization of financial markets, deserves the confidence of investors who make their financial investments in the securities of the Republic of Portugal.