The President of the Azorean Government considers that, in recent times, financial institutions have sought to better understand the need to provide further funding to Azorean households and companies and to actively participate in economic growth “because economic growth is also crucial for the future of the financial sector.” Even though, Carlos César said, “I think there is still a greater margin between risk assessment and the availability of that financial sector.”
Carlos César spoke to journalists at the Sant’Ana Palace on Thursday afternoon, after granting an audience to the Chairman of the Executive Commission of Banif, Duarte Almeida, and the outgoing Chairman of the Executive Commission, Marques dos Santos, who is also the current Chairman of Banif Holding.
The President of the Government reminded the “existence of a liquidity problem in the financial sector in general which is also reflected in its capacity to fund families and companies.  What is happening in Portugal also happens in most European countries. Consequently, what is happening in Portugal is also occurring in the Azores as well as in our banking institutions.”
“However,” Carlos César continued, “Banif is an institution with a strong position on the regional market, having provided an interesting and positive response by engaging in the credit lines that were created by the Regional Government for business support, debt restructuring, working capital, as well as in the Açores Invest line. Moreover, this financial institution has played a very important role in this area in addition to being cooperative in terms of contractual agreements which financial institutions should hold with political institutions in order to monitor economic activity and stimulate social stabilisation.”