Official: Council of Ministers designates Centeno as new governor of the Bank of Portugal

After the injunction of the Liberal Initiative (IL) was rejected and the report on the parliamentary hearing was approved, it was up to the Council of Ministers to officially appoint Mário Centeno, a former finance minister, as governor of the Bank of Portugal.

“The Council of Ministers appointed today, on a proposal from the Minister of State and Finance, Mário José Gomes de Freitas Centeno, to the post of governor of the Bank of Portugal,” announced the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers, in statements transmitted by the public channel RTP.

The Council of Ministers’ communiqué, meanwhile published, also states that the government “approved the resolution appointing, on a proposal from the member of the government in charge of finance, Mário José Gomes de Freitas Centeno as governor of the Bank of Portugal.”

Although all parties with parliamentary seats, except for the PS itself, are against this appointment, the government has decided to proceed with the nomination of Mário Centeno to replace Carlos Costa, the governor of the Banco de Portugal for the last ten years. The former finance minister will begin his new duties next Monday, July 20, a month and a few days after he left his position in the state.