Miranda Sarmento praises banking, bankers complain about excessive and inadequate regulation
The Minister of Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, said this Tuesday that he is confident in the growth of the economy in 2025 and in the following years. He praised the banking sector: “we have a banking sector that is very different from what it was 10 years ago, more resilient, more solid, with its regulatory excesses. I agree with Miguel Maya [presidente do BCP]”.
The president of BCP, Miguel Maya, as well as other bankers, cited the Draghi report several times, to highlight several challenges. In this case, Maya highlighted “excessive regulation and inadequate regulation”, which was agreed by the Minister of Finance.
Joaquim Miranda Sarmento spoke to an audience full of bankers, financial regulators and the like, after listening to part of what the managers of the five largest banks operating in Portugal had to say.
The minister made a point of saying: “I come to talk about the State Budget, not about conversations”, referring to the fact that one of the bankers, the president of BPI, had said that “the conversations about the Budget in recent months It’s tragic, we keep talking and don’t have the patience for it.” João Pedro Oliveira e Costa went further to state: “we have to be indignant and not continue to give to this charity”, to conclude: “we have a golden opportunity to take a leap forward”.
Revised the conviction about the estimated economic growth of 2.1%; the 0.3 percentage point of the budget balance and sustained reduction in public debt. He also mentioned the fall of the IRC, the IRS Jovem and justified what supports the expected increase in ISP revenue. Explaining that this increase in ISP This results not only from the update of the carbon tax, which has to be done, it is a commitment, but also from the estimated increase in consumption.
On the bankers’ side, the debate moderated by Isabel Vaz, executive president of Luz Saúde, reviewed several topics, including that the scale of companies matters for, among other things, companies investing in technology, requalifying their staff and pay them better.
Having scale was one of the points addressed by Pedro Castro Almeida, president of Santander, when questioned by Isabel Vaz. “Size matters a lot”, he stressed on several fronts, in order to invest and the country can grow sustainably. Once again the Draghi report was cited for the challenges it poses for Europe in terms of scale. And he noted that in Europe two thirds of company financing is granted by banks, but in the USA only a third comes from banks.
Castro Almeida recalled that “Portugal had a collective binge when we doubled the debt ratio as a percentage of GDP”, in the past, and praised the deleveraging effort made by economic agents, families, companies and public administration. In the current context, the banker of Santander believes that it is necessary to stabilize and have more certainty about regulation, without constantly changing the rules.
Mark Bourke, president of Novo Banco, argued that the economy is performing better. The president of the public bank Paulo Macedo, after stressing that in 2025 it will be more difficult to obtain good results, states that “if the OE is fulfilled we will enter three consecutive years with surpluses and this environment is important”.
And this is a reason for optimism, he says, adding that the country has a level of “sustainable employment”, and “it is also positive that young people have less income tax to pay and better conditions on real estate credit”. Regarding IRC, he also argued that “some less IRC for companies and lower interest rates is good”.
The president of CGD states that it is necessary to make investments in friendly energy, and emphasizes that in terms of housing “financing has increased but there needs to be more supply”
