Africa-Press – Cape verde. The deputy prime minister, Olavo Correia, classified this Thursday as “authentic confusion and without legal support” the statement by PAICV (opposition) deputy Julião Varela that the Government is attacking the autonomy of the Bank of Cape Verde ( BCV).
In a political statement on the auctions of the National Institute of Social Security (INPS) this Wednesday, in parliament, Julião Varela stated that Olavo Correia’s intention to promote a meeting between the BCV, as a regulatory entity, the INPS and the Government, as a guardianship, to find the best solutions for auctions, “it undermines the autonomy and independence of the central bank and represents gross interference by the Government in the management of INPS”.
In reaction today, at a press conference, Olavo Correia, who is Minister of Finance and has financial oversight of the INPS, accompanied by the Minister of Family, Fernando Elísio Freire, who has operational oversight, explained that the BCV, in addition to being a supervisory entity, is the institution that advises the Government on matters of economic policy and financial policy.
“If we look at the organic law of the BCV, in its article 17, number 5, it is clearly and explicitly stated that the BCV is the financial advisor to the Government of the Republic of Cape Verde”, he clarified, adding that when the BCV issues an opinion to the Government, it is not interfering in the institution’s competences or its autonomy, but rather fulfilling a constitutional and legal mandate, which is imposed on it by the law itself and by statutes.
“Therefore, when the opposition claims that we are interfering in relation to the BCV’s powers, I think this only reflects that the deputy who made this reference does not know the BCV’s organic law, does not know how the institutions should work to make that statement,” he added.
On the other hand, the government official stated that autonomy has nothing to do with institutional cooperation.
“Autonomy is in deciding on issues that have to do with monetary policy, but all institutions in the Republic have a duty to collaborate, a relationship of cooperation, because governance is a whole and is for the Cape Verdean nation,” he said .
Olavo Correia also highlighted that when the BCV made the opinion, it did not exercise supervision over the INPS or superintendence, because it does not have that competence and, therefore, acted as an advisor to the Government.
“The BCV issued an opinion to the Government of Cape Verde, to my colleague minister Fernando Elísio and to myself, because we have a duty to analyze the opinion and, based on that, take decisions”, he highlighted, adding that he made the analysis of the process at the request of the Government and also issued an opinion to the Government.
Olavo Correia reiterated that the government is finalizing the analysis of the BCV opinion, at the same time that he requested a contradiction from the INPS Executive Committee in relation to some issues that were raised in the opinion to then take decisions.
However, he stated that the auctions, which he considers an “excellent practice”, are to continue, with a regulatory framework to be created based on BCV recommendations to guarantee maximum profitability of INPS resources and, on the other hand, preserve the stability of the system Cape Verde’s finances.
“We will work on a regulatory framework with the BCV and the INPS, listening to the commercial banks in the area and other participating entities, so that later we can have a better framework, a properly agreed framework and then we will resume with auctions”, he said.
The INPS auctions, which began in December 2023, were suspended in January following complaints made by a group that brought together the majority of banks participating in the auctions, which alleged a lack of transparency in the process.
In a statement released last Friday, March 1st, the BCV considered the banks’ complaint legitimate and valid and declared that the INPS auction process violated the transparency process and could be annulled.
The central bank maintained that the INPS’s refusal to make auction regulations available, as well as the failure to previously share the formula for calculating the evaluation of proposals, appears to be a procedure that can be objectively qualified as a lack of transparency.
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