LISBON: Portuguese finance minister Mario Centeno said on Tuesday he was stepping down from his post and would also not be seeking another mandate as head of the Eurogroup.

Centeno has headed the Eurogroup, a framework for meetings of eurozone finance ministers, since December 2017.

Centeno will formally announce his resignation from the Eurogroup during a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Thursday, he said.

His Eurogroup term was to end next month, and he would not seek another, he said on Twitter.

Centeno said he would now invite applications for his job, with a vote on his successor planned for July 9.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that Centeno had "done a very successful job", including by contributing to "a whole series of advances" in the European stability mechanism and the banking and capital markets union.