Also, with so many people in the audience taking a particular interest in the Portuguese economy, it would be remiss of me not to make some observations on the state of the Portuguese economy and the key challenges we face. The European project as we know it is a political endeavour, characterised by waves of integration over the last few decades.
When the Central Bank wanted to tighten monetary policy, it increased the reserve requirement and when it wanted to loosen policy the requirements were lowered5. Another direct instrument was selective credit controls, by which the Central Bank would dictate to financial institutions the proportion of credit that must go to various activities.