“The parties, whether they be socialist or whatever, in my reasoning, tend to be conservative if they are in government for a long time to hold on to power and, therefore they are essentially not implementing reforms for the country, which they arethe determining factors for an increase in economic growth, in the long run, and for us to move away from the tail of Europe.”
This statement comes from Eduardo Catroga, former finance minister in the governments of Cavaco Silva, who has just been honored as emeritus economist by the Order of Economists on Tuesday, June 27.
Eduardo Catroga repeated what he had already said in his speech at his tribute ceremony – that he is independent and has no political affiliation – and re-emphasized that he is independent and has no political affiliation, but he underlined again this idea that has been mentioned many times in an interview.
The former minister went even further and added forcefully that Portugal has all the conditions to have economic growth and not run to the tail of Europe.
For the economist – who classified Aníbal Cavaco Silva in his professional speech at the award ceremony as “one of the best finance ministers in democratic Portugal” – the country is “overflowing its treasury due to inflation and a stifling tax burden on households and businessesand moreover “Portugal has Structural Funds like never before in the Portuguese economy”.Now we must have ambition and make policies that are geared to productivity and employment”, he said.
With a touch of humour, returning to the issue of governments concerned only with protecting power, Eduardo Catroga said that if it were football, someone might be concerned, but he doesn’t see anyone else who is concerned. about the fact that Portugal will move towards the tail end of Europe, to join the front ranks, in terms of economic and social prosperity”.
Catroga’s recipe for economic success
The economist who was a brilliant student at ISEG (then ISCEF), assistant professor, full professor and doctoral professor, says what the recipe is to get the country out of the economic doldrums in which it finds itself.
“It is this reformist view that I defend,” he continued, “my strategic view, as an economist, is this, linking short-term policies with medium- and long-term policies to improve productivity and competitiveness, whether in the public sector or through the added increase the value of exports.
And he continued with his prescription: “So Portugal already has successful companies in all sectors of the economy. Our big problem is that we have to multiply the number of successful cases by two or three. And we have to take into account companies in the light of economic activity”
For the former finance minister, they are the source of income for families and the state itself. Catroga lamented that companies were often “maligned” because they, especially the big ones, are the “growth engine,” he said. And he even said that if the country wants to move forward, “small and medium-sized companies need to get big”.
“Therefore, the country must internalize that it can create more wealth based on policies that provide incentives to develop innovation, increase the size of firms and penetrate the foreign market.”
Source: DN
