‘Difficult economic policy decisions come now’ – Bank of Portugal

  • Lusa
  • 3 May 2021

The governor of the Bank of Portugal (BoP) warns that despite the upturn, policymakers will have "difficult decisions" to make.

The governor of Portugal’s central bank (Bank of Portugal), Mário Centeno, on Monday said that difficult economic policy decisions may come now and reaffirmed the intention of a timely solution on moratoria, with an end announced for September.

“The difficult decisions come now, we cannot rest on the successes achieved,” said Portugal’s former finance minister and former president of the Eurogroup, in a class on economics, adding that the successes did not reach everyone and that it is difficult to understand good results when you are facing a pandemic of this size and harshness.

The governor argued that recovery must happen without entering an economic, financial or social crisis and that leaders must keep alive the spirit that drove the 2020 decisions.

As for the moratoria, Centeno said that they were essential in this crisis of seismic effects, given the harsh lockdowns decreed and concern to make liquidity reach families and companies.

“The best way to do this was to temporarily cancel the obligations of companies and families with the banks,” he said, arguing that this must be a temporary measure.

Centeno recalled that a concrete assessment of the situation, of businesses and families, is being made by Bank of Portugal, so as to achieve, a timely solution given the end, in September, of moratoria.

The governor reminded students that not all companies will be able to recover from the effects of the pandemic crisis and therefore advocates a transition of measures to support job creation.