LISBON - Portuguese Treasury and Debt Management Agency (IGCP) said on Thursday it plans to issue a total of between 18 billion and 20 billion euros($19.55 billion and $21.85 billion) in medium- and long-term debt bonds this year.

The IGCP said that the strategy "will be focused on the issuing of public debt in the financial markets in euros with the regular staging of treasury bond issuance to promote the liquidity and an efficient functioning of the primary and secondary markets".

The IGCP said that there will be at least one bond auction per quarter and it expects to issue between 3 billion and 3.75 billion euros in bonds with a maturity of between six and 12 months for the first quarter of this year.

Some 1.7 billion euros will also be raised during 2016 through the sale of retail investments for Portuguese households in the form of savings and treasury certificates, it said.

Portugal exited the 78-billion-euro bailout program it signed in May 2011 with its international creditors after the implementation of there years of harsh austerity measures. The country's economy has been on track of slow growth, but the unemployment rate remains at 12.4 percent and the public debt stands at around 130 percent of GDP.