Lisbon, March 12, 2025 (Lusa) - Chairmen of the main banks in Portugal on Wednesday, at the Fórum Banca conference in Lisbon, expressed their discontent at the political crisis in the country considering that regular political instability could disrupt an already stable economy.
"What happened recently was everything we didn't need, instability is bad for the system," said Montepio chairman Pedro Leitão.
For the chairman of Santander Totta, Pedro Castro e Almeida, "it's like a car race and the Portuguese car pulls over every lap".
The manager considered that, despite the current economic stability and the fact that "private individuals, people and companies that create wealth and growth" continue to invest in Portugal, if these situations continue they will erode the economy.
The chairman of BCP, Miguel Maya, said he was ‘optimistic’ and that the "quality of Portuguese entrepreneurs over the last decade shows that the country can be trusted".
"I'm very calm about the Portuguese economy. To say that we prefer stability to instability is so obvious that it is ridiculous," said Maya.
Harsher in their words were the chairmen of BPI and Crédito Agrícola.
Licínio Pina, from Crédito Agrícola, considered the state of politics to be "degrading" and predicted that "there will hardly be any people of quality who want to hold public office, given the demands made on the person and their family".
João Pedro Oliveira e Costa, from BPI, said that in view of what he had seen "there is a huge lack of outrage".
"My level of distress is so great, I almost feel like dropping my arms, questioning whether it's worth voting, whether anyone listens to us," he said.
The chairmen of Caixa Geral de Depósitos and Novo Banco were not present at the conference.
On Tuesday, parliament rejected the motion of confidence presented by the government, causing it to step down.
Today, the country's president will receive the political parties with parliamentary seats at the Belém Palace to discuss the political crisis and the scenario of early parliamentary elections.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had signalled that if the motion of confidence was rejected, causing the government to fall, the ‘electoral calendar’ would point to mid-May for early elections.
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