carlos da silva costa : farewell speech in honor of president mario draghi address by mr carlos da silva costa, governor of the bank of portugal, at the ecb governing council dinner in honor of president mario draghi, frankfurt am main, 23 october 2019. * * * as prepared for delivery dear mario, dear friends, as the longest serving governor of a national central bank in the governing council, i have been awarded the privilege and honour to say a few words at mario ’ s farewell dinner. when mario took office as president of the ecb eight years ago, europe was diving deep into the sovereign debt crisis. financial markets questioned the ability of highly indebted euro area countries to pay back their debts. a break up of the euro was a real possibility and redenomination risk premia appeared. eight years have passed, the euro is here to stay, and rests on much stronger foundations. mario´s contribution to this outcome cannot be overemphasised. his leadership as president of the ecb has shown a remarkable ability : to evaluate the context ; to separate what is essential from what is secondary ; to build consensus within the ecb ’ s governing council to pursue the required unconventional policies ; and last, but not least, to convince european leaders of the need to strengthen the foundations of the emu. mario provided impetus to the creation of the banking union, and took upon the ecb the task of setting up the single supervisory mechanism. mario has had the courage to search for solutions that tested the limits of our common mandate, while being open and flexible on how to achieve it. in doing so, he had to cope with a lack of understanding by important sectors of public opinion. with its balanced and determined decisions to define the outright monetary transactions mechanism and to provide conditional financing to the greek banking system, the ecb effectively saved the euro. with its bold unconventional policies, the ecb effectively prevented the euro area from sliding into deflation. it also allowed the time for political agents to adjust their fiscal policies, to adopt structural measures and to agree on institutional improvements needed for a sustainable economic and monetary union. mario has proven to be intellectually curious and open, looking at facts and questioning theories. he has instilled mental discipline among all of us working with him, and throughout the ecb. without annulling differences in opinion, mario was able to make us converge to a common course of action. mario, dear president, you understood the problems we were confronted

carlos da silva costa : opening address - 8th conference of the central balance - sheet database opening address by mr carlos da silva costa, governor of the bank of portugal, at the 8th conference of the central balance - sheet database " the buoyancy of the corporate sector ", lisbon, 4 february 2019. * * * as prepared for delivery. good afternoon. welcome to another conference of banco de portugal ’ s central balance - sheet database. it is always with great pleasure that i associate myself with this event, hosted by the statistics department of banco de portugal, and which is in its eighth edition. the information produced and made available by the central balance - sheet database is a valuable asset, which we are proud to preserve and improve. not only is it a valuable asset for banco de portugal, as producer of studies on the portuguese economic reality, but also, and above all, a valuable asset for firms, economic decision - makers, academia and society in general. the central balance - sheet database is, as you know, fed by so - called ies – simplified corporate information. the ies, created a dozen years ago within the scope of the simplex programme, is an internationally admired success case and a notable example of interinstitutional cooperation and articulation, involving banco de portugal, the ministries of justice and finance, and statistics portugal. as a result of this joint effort, the central balance - sheet database produces and releases information that is rich, wide - ranging and conducive to a timely and thorough knowledge of firms ’ financial and economic situations, which is almost unrivalled at international level. the potential of this wealth is enormous as it : allows business owners and managers to frame their enterprise in the sector and size class to which it belongs, to make international comparisons and to assess business and investment opportunities ; provides policy - makers with knowledge of the microeconomic reality that is fundamental to successfully design the institutional and regulatory framework ; and allows analysts and researchers to improve understanding of the corporate reality and thereby the performance of the portuguese economy. the study on the buoyancy of the corporate sector in portugal, which will be presented today and will serve as the basis for the subsequent discussion, is a perfect illustration of this. the results of this study provide very relevant clues to understanding the reaction of economic agents to the crisis we went through recently, and also to acknowledging the challenges we face. in this study, we can find signs of the emergence, as a result