Bank of Portugal governor Álvaro Santos Pereira will be called before parliament over the retirement of his predecessor, Mário Centeno, at age 59, following the approval of a motion presented by Chega.
The motion to hear Santos Pereira was approved unanimously by the parties present at the Budget, Finance and Public Administration Committee — Chega, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Socialist Party (PS). The Chega motion also proposes hearing board member Helena Adegas, who oversees the People and Organisational Strategy department.
Former governor Mário Centeno will leave the Bank of Portugal through the retirement scheme under the central bank’s existing pension fund, following an agreement between the two parties. Centeno’s departure was reported by Jornal Eco last Friday, with the former governor set to leave as a consultant and retire on a full pension.
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According to information on the Bank of Portugal Pension Fund Management Company’s website, there are two closed pension funds at the central bank — one for employees who joined up to March 2009 and another established in 2010.
The fund for employees who joined up to March 2009 — as is the case with Centeno — covers retirement pensions, survivor pensions and death grants for workers admitted to the Bank of Portugal up to March 2, 2009, as well as post-employment healthcare contributions.
Mário Centeno served as Bank of Portugal governor from 2020 to 2025, having previously worked at the institution as an economist from 2000. Photo credits: PEDRO SARMENTO COSTA/LUSA
Chega deputy Eduardo Teixeira said Centeno’s retirement “deserves some clarification” and called for scrutiny of the motivations behind it. PSD deputy Hugo Carneiro said his party had “no problem with this motion,” while Socialist António Mendonça Mendes justified his vote in favour by noting that “independence does not mean absence of scrutiny.”
Centeno served as Bank of Portugal governor from 2020 to 2025, having previously worked at the institution as an economist from 2000, as deputy director of the Economic Studies Department from 2004 to 2013, and as adviser to the Board of Directors from December 2013 to November 2015.
