Portuguese Minister of Finance admits nationalization of TAP

"I have already heard colleagues of mine, unsuspecting, of making decisions in their minds, even as finance ministers, that it would not have occurred to us to make a month and a half ago.

Therefore, it would be neither correct nor true that I said [...] that any option was taboo ", stated Mário Centeno, in an interview with TVI, when asked whether direct or indirect interventions, such as the nationalization of companies, are allowed in the economic recovery plan.

"TAP, for example, has unique challenges. There are many ways to intervene, but this is also one of them", declared Mário Centeno, when faced with an eventual nationalization of the carrier in which the State is the largest shareholder with 50% of capital.

Referring that the Government will have to "react to something for which there is no script", the Minister of Finance refused "to remove any possibility to respond" to the impacts of the new coronavirus on the economy, for not knowing that "challenges are going to be placed tomorrow ".

In the same interview, Centeno said today that the Government's estimates point to a 6.5% drop in annual GDP for each 30 business days when the economy is paralyzed due to covid - 19 .

“The estimates that exist and we will shortly present figures in this regard are framed in facts ranging from 6.5% of annual GDP for each 30 working days in which the economy is, as it is today in Portugal ”, said the government official.