According to figures released on Tuesday by the Portuguese central bank, the exposure of Portuguese banks to the ECB decreased slightly from 22.419 billion in October to 22.394 billion last month.

Since July 2016, the Portuguese banking sector's exposure to the ECB has been below €24.00 billion.

In April 2010, the Portuguese banking sector had an ECB exposure of 17.7 billion euros, which soared in May 2010 to €35.8 billion.

The maximum figures was reached in June 2012, when ECB loans to Portuguese banks totalled a record €60.5 billion.