Finance Minister Vítor Gaspar has announced that the government is working on the creation of a development bank for Portugal in order to improve financing for businesses and thus jump-start the domestic economy.
Development banks are financial institutions working to stimulate economies and provide financing and advice with the purpose of development.
José Silva Peneda, president of the Economic and Social Council (CES) and a member of the team developing the bank project, revealed that the objective is to create a public investment bank working to complement commercial activity. “It will not be a competitor to commercial banks and it won’t have branches,” explained Silva Peneda.
The future banking institution, born from conversations between the CES, the Bank of Portugal and the Ministry of Finance, has been in preparation since August and may be partially financed by structural funds and capital from the European Investment Bank, the European Union’s official lending and banking institution.
Silva Peneda emphasised that this will be a “very important” project for Portugal.
José Reis, an economist and teacher at the University of Coimbra, recently praised the idea of creating a development bank, “as had been proposed by António José Seguro”, leader of PS opposition party.
José Reis says the project should be part of a global political vision to fight austerity in the country.
