Alexandre Soares dos Santos, the former chairman of the board of Jerónimo Martins, admitted this week that the company headquarters is off to Geneva, mainly due to the lack of response from Portugal’s banks.
The respected business leader that Portuguese banks do not give the answers that businesses need and he criticised the way the government has handled the economic crisis.
"Jerónimo Martins, within one or two years will be in Geneva,” adding that in Switzerland businesses can get sensible answers from banks, something that is sadly lacking in Portugal.
The businessman criticised the current tax policy, stating that "businesses should require the state to return those taxes it collects and does not use," as it is not using tax income in a social responsible way.
"The private sector can not be silent and must defend its merits," said Soares dos Santos, citing as examples of the state’s inability to organise brewery outings, the poorly negotiated Swaps contracts, and the shipyards at Viana do Castelo, "which have five members on the board and not one engineer."
As for the crisis Soares dos Santos criticised "the destruction of the middle class," by the government which "does not advance the country.”
The former president of Jerónimo Martins was speaking at a conference ‘Is There Light at the end of the Tunnel?’ at the University of Coimbra.
