Finance Minister requests audit of Centeno’s real estate deal for new central bank headquarters
Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento has asked the IGF to inspect the deal for the new headquarters of the Bank of Portugal, decided by the governor Mário Centeno.
If there were any doubts about the possibility of Mário Centeno succeeding Mário Centeno as governor, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento’s decision puts an end to it: the Ministry of Finance has asked the Inspectorate-General of Finance (IGF) to conduct an audit of the deal for the new headquarters of the Bank of Portugal, a deal with the insurance company Fidelidade, worth more than €200 million, on the site of the former Feira Popular.
“In view of the news about the new Bank of Portugal building, released yesterday and today, in defense of the institution and with full respect for its independence, the Ministry of Finance will request an audit by the Inspectorate-General of Finance”, reads a statement from the ministry led by Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, containing only this paragraph.
On May 2nd, with just over two months left in his term as governor of the central bank, Mário Centeno signed a preliminary agreement with four companies belonging to the Fidelidade Group for the construction of the new headquarters of the Bank of Portugal on the former site of the Feira Popular amusement park in Lisbon. However, according to Observador, the technical and legal due diligence reports commissioned by the institution warned of 16 serious contingencies that could jeopardize the deal, which, if it goes ahead, will only be completed at the end of 2027.
ECO later revealed that the supervisor will pay Fidelidade around €192 million for the new headquarters in five installments, the first of which will be €57.597 million, equivalent to 30% of the base value. But the deal depends on the fulfillment of more than a dozen factors, including permits from the city council.
Thus, two days before the announcement of the governor of the Bank of Portugal for the next five years, and after Prime Minister Luís Montenegro admitted that Centeno met all the conditions to be governor, the statement from the Ministry of Finance effectively puts an end to speculation about Centeno’s possible continuity at the Bank of Portugal. It now remains to be seen who will succeed the current governor.
