Economic situation? Next year will be ‘very difficult’ for Portugal

TheAntonio Horta Osorio considers the Portuguese must be financially prepared so as not to experience a “sudden shock” next year, warning that if there is economic growth in 2023, it will be less than in recent years. In addition, he admits that he does not believe that banks are making significant gains.

In an interview with CNN Portugalthe director revealed that “growth [em 2023]if any, [será] Much less than its predecessors “hence”The more prepared the Portuguese are, the more they can defend themselves, so as not to get a sudden shock“.

In the opinion of Horta Osorio, Next year will be “very difficult” for Portugalwhich is a “small open economy” but has “some room to adjust to international influences”.

However, “this latitude is limited and there is no doubt that, unfortunately, the deterioration in food prices, and the energy crisis significantly exacerbated by the war in Ukraine led to generalized hypertrophy and should not be generalized – It is a hidden and unfair tax on society“.

The manager believes that the idea that “banks have a lot of money” has been nurtured, and he disagrees with it: “It suffices to see that the listed banks in Portugal, Spain and France are priced below their book value, which mainly relates to the fact that the return that the banks make on Capital – which is very high – is below the cost of capital.”

He explains, however, that banks have a lot of liquidity, considering this important in terms of security. “I don’t think it’s true that the banks are making big gains because if you look at the return on equity, it’s much less than 10%The minimum required return for bank equity is about 10% to 12%.

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