News In Brief

Moody’s has cut its growth forecasts for GDP for all of the G20 countries for 2020 and 2021 due to the global economic paralysis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In a research bulletin published on Tuesday the US agency estimates a 5.8% contraction of the 20 largest world economies this year and a 6.8% for the Eurozone.

The former Angolan-Portuguese bank Eurobic saw a record result of €61 million net in 2019. The sale of the bank to Spanish bank Abanca last year led to shareholders postponing the appointment of board members for a future general assembly, but the former PS finance minister, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos who heads the bank will remain as its CEO.

Moody’s has downgraded the outlook of Novo Banco deposits and long-term non-guaranteed high risk debt from ‘positive’ to ‘stable’ and maintains the ratings of these indices at ‘junk’ level. With the downward revision in outlook, Moody’s has basically given a ‘yellow card’ to deposits and ‘senior debt’ which could get an even lower rating in future. The situation will improve if the bank, led by António Ramalho, is successful in clearing NPLs and toxic loans from its balance books while increasing its profitability.

Portugal’s banks are expecting a “sharp decrease in demand” for mortgages in Q2 of 2020, particularly home loans, according to an internal market report published on Tuesday by the Bank of Portugal. However, the banks expect a strong demand for loans right across all sectors of the economy and all types of company.