Companies that are having a bad time were already in difficulties, says Paulo Macedo – Banca & Financeira

Most companies “had the best results ever and also had the best business volumes”, pointed out the president of Caixa Geral de Depósitos during the Fora da Caixa conference, organized by the public bank in Maia. Paulo Macedo also considers that the exceptions “are not new companies going bad”, but rather cases where “they were already in difficulties and had another relapse”.

“We have default and bad debt barometers and, fortunately, this has been stabilized and has not evolved negatively for over 15 months. These are positive news”, stated Paulo Macedo.

The manager considers that “the news is better” than what there were six months ago in terms of exports and external demand. And he sees the possibility of a drop in GDP already distant: “Six months ago it was not known whether Portugal and Europe would be in recession. We do not know the outcome of the year, but from the data we have we do not see this recession”. The most recent forecasts by the Bank of Portugal, for example, point to a growth of 1.8% this year, and those of the European Commission to 2.4%. Tourism deserves mention for Paulo Macedo, because “it is once again of great importance”, although he regrets the country’s dependence on this sector of activity.

Even so, he points to “new data”, because “prices per night, per night or per meal, are all more expensive”, which the CEO hopes is due not only to inflation but also to “some added value that will existing in these services”.

With regard to the Recovery and Resilience Plan, he regrets that the country remains “quite behind schedule”. “Here there is still a lot to do and in terms of what will be the possibility of financing reaching companies earlier”, stated Paulo Macedo.