Government of the Central Bank in Portugal

O minister of Finance Santomense today criticized the pledge of the account of the Central Bank of the archipelago in Portugal at the request of a Portuguese company to collect compensation for the termination of a contract more than 10 years ago.

“There is a United Nations convention that relates to the judicial immunity of States and their assets, and the Central Bank is still a State (...). That convention says that the sovereign assets of a state cannot be pawned, let alone the accounts of a state,” said Gareth Guadeloupe, after being questioned by journalists.

Despite admitting that “the Central Bank has a financial, administrative, patrimonial and operational autonomy”, Gareth Guadalupe reinforced that “there is also the impurity of the Central Bank’s accounts, because the Central Bank also serves to make money-exchange coverage issues when the State wants to buy medicines”, fuels and other procedures.

The Economic Journal reported on Tuesday that Synergies Investments Limited advanced with a judicial execution in Portugal against the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, amounting to EUR 5,486,835.59 (EUR 5,5 million), related to an old dispute over the operation of the Rio Contador hydroelectric power plant, whose compensation, now plus interest and other charges accumulated, was fixed in 2009 by an international arbitration tribunal.

The Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance of São Tomé and Príncipe admitted the dispute, stating that he began between 2004 and 2005 when the Government then terminated the contract signed by the former.

According to Gareth Guadalupe the Santomense Government through Prime Minister Américo Ramos, was in talks with Synergies, and he will have proposed a plan to pay the debt in delay and anticipate the total liquidation.

“What was proposed (...), to the creditor, was that we not only paid the one million due in May 2026, but also paid the one million due in May 2027, plus 650 thousand euros due in May 2028. In other words, we would not only be paying what is late in May 2026, but we would also be paying in advance the values of 2027 and 2028 to close the total debt to the creditor Synergies ", explained Gareth Guadalupe.

The governor underlined the “good faith” of the Santomense government which said to wait for the Synergies Investments Limited response.

However, Guadalupe clarified that the accounts of the Central Bank pledged in Portugal “do not have to do with the Public Treasury”, so the Government of Santomense continues to be able to “make receipts and payments”.

It also said that “the Central Bank has already formed a team of lawyers” who is working for “invoking the impeniorability of state accounts” and, at the same time, the Public Treasury services will make deligences “to pay not only the late value but the divided values until 2028”, in order to raise the pledge.