André Kosters / Lusa
The governor of Banco de Portugal, Mário Centeno
The governor of Banco de Portugal, warned this Saturday the political parties that should “always be present the idea of financial stability”, also taking into account the forecast of “a slowdown of the economy in the next quarters”, and that the word that dominates economic analysis is “uncertainty”.
In timeliness to the conversation capital of Antena 1 and Jornal de Negócios, Mário Centeno said that financial stability is a capital that Portugal acquired and that “cannot be disrupted”When proposals and measures are presented for the future.
“There is no measure in itself that it is bad or spectacular. They only work as a whole if, at the end of the day, respect a balance That Banco de Portugal has always stressed for many decades, ”he said, when asked about the parties’ electoral programs for May 18 legislatures.
According to the governor of Banco de Portugal, “The word that dominates economic analysis is the uncertainty“Thanks to the trade policy measures introduced by the United States.
Mário Centeno also recalled that Banco de Portugal “has been saying for decades that Policies must be countercyclic and not pro-cyclicals ”.
In the same interview, the governor of Banco de Portugal said that the Portuguese economy lives “a good moment, but in slowdown”EE refers to new economic predictions, which should be released in the first week of June, as“more cautious than March”.
“We anticipated a slowdown in the economy in the next quarters that will last in 2026,” he said, stressing, however, that “Portuguese public accounts are benefiting from a positive cyclic position”, Namely with the contributions to social security, tax revenues and IRC recipe, “that was never so big in Portugal”.
Mário Centeno points out that in other areas of public administration the accounts are deficit and warns that There has been a structural balance deterioration.
The governor of Banco de Portugal admits that the descent trend of interest rates through the European Central Bank is still for some time, but warns of endless descents of these rates “They are also a bad sign“.
Over Recent Decisions of the Trump Administrationnamely the mercy war that the US president launched, Centeno stresses that “this type of economic policy measures It can’t bring anything good“, Having become a“Commercial embargo policy“.
Banco de Portugal predicts that the Portuguese economy will grow 2.3% this year, a more optimistic projection than the 2.1% pointed out by the government, and that inflation will slow down to 2.3%.
According to the March Economic Bulletin, released on the 20th of last month, the Central Bank predicts that the Portuguese economy will grow 2.3% this year, slowing to 2.1% and 1.7% in 2026 and 2027.
