Mário Centeno has the “desire” to remain governor of the Bank of Portugal and says that he is serving in the role in order to “reach July next year in a position to have a second term.” “Obviously I am not serving in the role, so at the end of the term I will be dismissed for my performance. This political assessment must be made and will be made by those responsible,” says the former Finance Minister in the podcast Central Block from the newspaper Expreso.
Although he stresses that he intends to be re-elected as governor of the Bank of Portugal, Mário Centeno does not seem to close the door to a candidacy for Belém. When asked about the possibility of a presidential candidacy, he says that. “Just like with institutions, we must respect the times” and he anticipates that there will come a time when “everyone will have to make decisions.”
Mário Centeno’s statements come a week in which the daily Eco reported that Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, the current Minister of Finance, appointed Luís Morais Sarmento to the Board of Directors of the Bank of Portugal. Although he has already entered the last year of his mandate, the governor of the Central Bank considers the appointment “normal” and hopes that with the departure of the administrator Hélder Rosalino, next month, there will be a new appointment.
TO Centeno’s continuity at Banco de Portugal depends not only of your will but also, ultimately, of the Government’s decision. The Expresso mentions that the relationship between the governor and the current Minister of Finance is nothing, remembering that Miranda Sarmento wrote in 2020 an article of opinion — entitled “Time difficult is not for the author Centeno” — critic of Centeno’s passage from Banco de Portugal.
Source: Observadora
