Portugal made a successful comeback to the bond market Wednesday with the sale of 2.5-billion-euro bonds.

The stronger than expected demand, mostly from abroad, led Lisbon to raise the offer of the 5-year bond from 2 billion euros (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) to 2.5 billion euros.

Portugal ended up receiving more than 12 billion euros (16 billion U.S. dollars) in bids for those bonds, pushing down the interest to 4.81 percent.

"This is an important step in our path towards reestablishing Portugal's credibility," said Economy Minister Alvaro Santos Pereira. "Sooner or later it will reflect on banks, companies and of course on the normal development of the economic activity," he added.

Treasury Secretary of State Maria Luis Albuquerque said this was a clear sign that the austerity strategy implemented has produced results.

This is the first time Portugal has successfully tapped the bond market since the country reached an agreement on a 78-billion- euro bailout in May 2011 with the Troika comprising the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. (1 euro equals to 1.33 U.S. dollars)