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

family - run firms in different ways, amongst which i would highlight the development and provision of the “ family holding ” concept, as the legal expression of a centralised management model of the holdings of members of a single family. always taking on an optional and supplementary nature, this legal concept would be especially effective if provided with a simple statutory and tax regime that was stable and easily accessible. in order to understand the dynamics of the corporate sector fully and promote it with maximum effectiveness, aggregated information will never be enough. it is indispensable to know the microeconomic and sociocultural mechanisms that, on the ground, determine economic agents ’ decisions and how they interact with the environment and public policies. only then will it be possible to understand, for example, the reasons for death rates among firms in their third and fourth years of life ; the positive and negative impact of the business environment on a firm, or the management model a certain entrepreneur chooses for their business. 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches this is where the central balance - sheet database reveals its worth, not only for the answers it provides, but also for the questions it enables. based on information like that which will be presented today, it should certainly be possible to find socioeconomic and multidisciplinary lines of research for fieldwork, leading to the micro - and macroeconomic data that we see in our tables and charts. let me therefore finish by inviting you to get to know the information that banco de portugal is providing today, and searching it for answers and the questions that will lead us to an ever - more dynamic corporate sector. thank you very much. keep up the good work. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches