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Álvaro Santos Pereira, former Minister of Economics and Employment
Álvaro Santos Pereira is being pointed out as Mário Centeno’s most likely successor in the leadership of Banco de Portugal. Decision will be known this Thursday.
Mário Centeno will not continue in the position of governor of Banco de Portugal (BDP).
After much speculation and, in recent days, Luís Montenegro admitted that he could bring back Centeno (which ended his term on Sunday); According to the former Minister of Finance (2015-202) already knows that he will leave.
Álvaro Santos Pereira It seems to be now the most likely successor of Centeno in the BDP leadership.
The news was advanced by and is also Manchete, this Thursday, who says the former Minister of Economics and Employment (2011-2013) It’s on pole position.
Álvaro Santos Pereira (52 years) has, since the beginning of last year, chief economist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Became known for (only) Álvaroafter, in 2011, when he was Minister of the Government of Passos Coelho, he told the journalist that he would rather treat him by his own name than for “minister”
“I prefer to always call me Álvaro, because there is one thing out there I like. When I first arrived in England, instead of calling a professor to a full professor who was my advisor, Mark called him, and from there, I thought it was very good and I like it a lot.
Although he was minister of the PSD/CDS-PP government, Álvaro is not a militant of either party. According to Diário de Notícias, Santos Pereira’s profile would have pleased the executive due to the academic profile with international path and image of independence.
In this where “independentism”, the former governor recently said in an interview with what “A governor cannot be political”.
“For me the most important thing is that the Central Bank is independent of political power. Central Bank cannot be political, it has to be independent and technical, ”he said.
Asked if he considered that Mario Centeno had been an independent governor, Álvaro said, “I won’t comment.”
In the same interview, Álvaro Santos Pereira said he was also “very happy” in the current position of chief economist of the OECD: “I like what I do a lot”. But now it seems to be the Favorite to govern Banco de Portugal.
The name of the next governor appointed by the government will be known on Thursday after the Council of Ministers. But it will have after passing through the Assembly of the Republic for a hearing. However, parliamentary commissions only work until this Friday (25), then going to parliamentary holidays. In this scenario, the next governor is expected to take office only in September.
