Portugal’s Finance Minister today confirmed that there is a "deviation" of €3 billion in the accounts of Caixa Geral de Depósitos.
This discrepancy is "in the operating results originally planned and expected for the end of the restructuring plan" which ends in 2017.
"By analysing the difference between the planned operating income for the end of the restructuring plan in 2017, there is a difference of about €3 billion. It is the difference between a plan and its implementation and that's how it should be understood and interpreted," said Mario Centeno.
The minister was speaking at the committee of inquiry into Caixa Geral, answering questions on the deviation in the bank's business that already had been flagged up earlier this month at the Committee of Budget, Finance and Administrative Modernisation.
Centeno stressed that the restructuring plan that was presented in 2013 for Caixa Geral was "a result of the capitalisation operation based on the commitment to improve a set of ratios and performance."
"Despite the efforts made throughout this time, with the improvement of some of the activity indicators," the fact is that "from the beginning of the restructuring plan, the deviation in progress made against the set plan has been significant," continued the minister, adding that the government does not want to feed the uncertainty surrounding Caixa Geral.
"It is important to pass on, and everyone in this room has a responsibility in this, a message of calm and confidence," said the minister.
The outgoing president of Caixa Geral told the Finance Minister that the bank would need €2 billion for recapitalisation, well below the €5 billion figure floated around the media. Centeno is sticking to the €2 billion figure.
Next, Mario Centeno is to be heard in parliament where he may have a harder time explaining how Caixa Geral got into such a mess, so much so that a recapitalisation proposal is being discussed with Brussels.
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