The former Minister of Finance, Eduardo Catroga, said Thursday that it is necessary to “better apply” the money that comes from Brussels, arguing that the structural funds should be aimed at improving the country’s general productivity.
“In the last 25 years we have advanced, but compared to the other [países] we pedaled a little”, said Catroga, during a round table on “Community funds are still synonymous with success for companies?”, which took place this Thursday in Aveiro.
For the economist and manager, it is necessary to reflect on how the structural funds should be applied more appropriately.
After investing in recent years in physical and social infrastructure to support development, the former minister of Cavaco Silva considers that it is now necessary to “direct more resources to support the country’s competitiveness and productivity.”
“We have a new golden opportunity, but it is not enough to put money into problems,” Catroga stressed, defending that a “strategic vision oriented towards the strengthening of the national productive fabric, towards the creation of national added value and towards the creation of more qualified employment” is needed..
Present at the same session, the former Minister of Internal Administration, Ângelo Correia, said that the country’s great problem is the production system of goods and services.
If the country does not have a productive system of goods and services capable of generating resources that feed the State, we have a situation of imbalance”, said Ângelo Correia, defending that the great purpose of the country has to encompass the rethinking of the productive fabric of goods and services
The former minister and PSD deputy also warned about the need to resolve some essential issues in the Portuguese economy, such as the size, capitalization and sustainability of companies.
Along the same lines, the president of the Portuguese Investment and Foreign Trade Agency (AICEP), Luís Castro Henriques, said that Portugal is still “very little capitalized”, arguing that the country must be capitalized again, through “a very significant increase in productivity.
Nuno Gonçalves, administrator of the Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (IAPMEI), said, on the same occasion, that the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) will provide “an unparalleled opportunity” in the area of capitalization of companiesannouncing that, finally, Banco Português de Fomento saw its share capital doubled.
“IAPMEI, a few days ago, made an injection of another 250 million euros in capital, which will double the share capital of the bank,” the official said, adding that IAPMEI will constitute a capitalization fund that will have a value of 1.3 billion euros. euros.
Source: Observadora
