Governor of the Bank of Portugal Mário Centeno has warned today that temporary measures brought in to ‘save the economy’ cannot become permanent as they risk the sustainability of the future. Presenting the bank’s May bulletin he stressed “public debt increased a great deal in 2020” – more than average increases over the eurozone. The indebtedness of Portugal’s public administration “has to be taken very seriously”, as does the extension of bank moratoria (announced earlier today by the minister of the economy). Said Mr Centeno, “we cannot allow Portugal to become isolated in a European context”, which he believes will happen if there is “an extension of moratoria on national level when several other European countries have already ended them”.
