European Commissioner of Economy: “Portugal is certainly much stronger than in the crisis”
Paolo Gentiloni argues that there is "still firepower to support companies at risk of insolvency", but leaves a warning to Portugal, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Spain: "Given the level of indebtedness, they are asked to consider sustainability in the medium term "
Right now, "Portugal, and I would say that the entire European banking system, is certainly much stronger than in the previous crisis," said Paolo Gentiloni.
On the credit moratoriums foreseen by the Portuguese Government until September next year and on the possibility of increasing bad debts, the European commissioner acknowledged: "obviously, if we have a prolonged crisis, we run the risk of insolvency, difficulties in companies, with consequences for loans to banks". However "we are not seeing any serious signs of this at the moment," he warned adding that out of the three billion authorized under the Temporary State Aid Framework, only a part has been spent. "We still have the firepower to support companies at risk of insolvency. Of course, in the medium term we cannot say that there will be no consequences."
For Portugal, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Spain, Paolo Gentiloni left the warning: "Given the level of indebtedness, they are asked to consider fiscal sustainability in the medium term".