Government hoped €15,000-a-month salary would remain paid by central bank
The Bank of Portugal has set the record straight today, following an ‘exclusive’ in Correio da Manhã suggesting the government has requisitioned a ‘super manager’ from the bank, on the same wages he earns at the bank – to be paid for by the bank.
But now comes the statement to say that Eurosystem rules do not allow for the monetary financing of Hélder Rosalino, the newly appointed ‘secretary general’ of the government – thus his €15,905 monthly salary will have to come from elsewhere (the government being the only institution likely…)
As Correio da Manhã explained in its exclusive, Rosalino’s salary is roughly 160% more than the salary stipulated for his role. It is also twice the monthly salary of the prime minister.
“The government asked the Bank of Portugal (BdP) to pay Rosalino’s salary while he was secretary general. In an initial contact, Mário Centento, governor of the BdP, accepted”, albeit, there was nothing formally agreed in writing, said the paper.
“According to a government source, the nomination of Rosalino was based on the following principle: ‘In recruiting a collaborator in a public entity there would be a (financial) saving for the public sector: instead of supporting the salary for a consultant of the BdP and a secretary general of the government, (the state) would just have to support the salary of the first position”.
Except that the government source seems to have been misinformed – or at least, under the wrong impression.
A statement released by the BdP today said: “The Bank of Portugal does not assume any expenses related to the remuneration of the Secretary General of the Government, as is the case with the Eurosystem rules on the prohibition of monetary financing”.
Any deductions made by the BdP to Social Security relating to Rosalino’s salary will also have to be reimbursed: “As legally provided, it is also up to the General Secretariat to reimburse the Bank of Portugal for any component of the social protection scheme that has been processed directly, as a result of the applicable legal framework”, the statement continues.
The Bank justifies itself with Decree-Law no. 43-B/2024, of July 2 2024, on the General Secretariat of the Government – and the fact that the “remuneration status of the managers of this General Secretariat (was)changed by the Government, through Decree-Law no. 114-B/2024, of December 26 2024 (ie two days ago). The Bank of Portugal has no competence and had no intervention in these diplomas”.
Expresso carries this update to CM’s exclusive concluding with something of a curved ball: “This information was passed on by the Governor of the Bank of Portugal to the Government, when contacted informally about this issue”.
This embarrassing mix-up ostensibly leaves the government with an extra €210,000 in salary payments per year. Hélder Rosalino has worked at BdP for 30 years, and is understood to have agreed to being ‘requisitioned’ for his new role on the understanding that he earned exactly the same salary that he is receiving at the central bank.
Source material: Expresso
