At the furthest point from his gaming namesake Super Mario, Portugal’s finance minister Mário Centeno has been dubbed “a disaster” by acerbic TV commentator Luís Marques Mendes, who told SIC this week that the PS take on Portugal’s banking situation is going from bad to worse. CGD, BCE, wherever one looks, Centeno’s hold of the situation is abysmal, he said, as the finance minister simply does not act quickly enough.
As for the announcement recently that if Novo Banco wasn’t sold within the next year it would be liquidated, “what does that mean?” Marques Mendes added. “If the bank isn’t sold, it will run the risk of a run on deposits!”
With things as they stand, the former PSD MP says he expects the new administration of State bank CGD to be “singed”, as the consequential fall-out appears unavoidable.
“What is happening at CGD is worse than second-rate soap opera,” he said. It has taken 100 days since the new president of the bank has been named, but “only this week” have the names of fellow members of the board been formally proposed to the European Central Bank.
