Public Finances Council appoints new head

Portugal’s Public Finances Council, the independent watchdog on government and public spending, has a new head – Nazaré Costa Cabral.

The appointment comes shortly after the institution downgraded the Portuguese government’s optimistic 2.2% GDP growth to just 1.6%.
The university professor has replaced economist Teodora Cardoso who had occupied the role since February 2012.
Appointed last month for her “professional ethics, technical competency, abilities, professional experience and suitable qualifications and training to carry out the required roles” the seven-year term began this month and will continue until 2026.
This month the institution released its report “Public Finances: Situation and Conditioning Factors 2019-2023”.
This report is followed closely by those interested in the national economy and the performance of public finances.
Furthermore, the report serves as a snapshot preview of the Stability Programme which the Government sends to Brussels in April.
The latest projection from the Public Finances Council outlines a downward review of Government projections and those from the Council issued in September when it predicted a GDP growth of 1.9%.
Now it suggests that Portugal’s growth will be as little as 1.6% this year a far cry from the official government projection of 2.2%.
The new revision of 1.6% published yesterday (Thursday) is the most pessimistic growth forecast for the country for some time and puts mounting pressure on the Finance Minister Mário Centeno to review his forecasts from 2.2% to 2.0% or even less.
According to the Public Finances Council, Portugal has to go back to 2014 to find such weak economic growth.
The Council of Minister’s decision to appoint Nazaré Costa Cabral to head the Public Finances Council was made by the President of the Portuguese Audit Office (Tribunal de Contas), Vítor da Silva Caldeira and the Governor of the Bank of Portugal, Carlos Costa.