Speaking at a lunch debate at the Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon, he said that great progress had been made over the last three years and that the recent capital increases at Caixa Geral de Depósitos and BCP and the purchase of BPI by Spanish bank CaixaBank, had helped to increase the solvency of Portuguese banks.

However, he added, there was another problem to be solved which was the non-performing and risky loans as a proportion of the total credit in Portugal, which is higher than average in Europe.

Horta Osório said the non-performing loans should be sold to someone who can take care of them so the banks can get rid of them and recycle capital to those who need it.

At the beginning of the month, the Portuguese prime minister, António Costa, told parliament that there had been a meeting between the finance ministry, the Bank of Portugal and the three main banks to prepare a solution to the non-performing loans.