Timor-Leste Bank of National Development
The formal process for constituting the Timor-Leste Bank of National Development began with the approval of a Resolution, by the Council of Ministers, about the action plan for the Bank’s creation. The Resolution was approved at the extraordinary meeting of 11th of May last and determines the generic structure of the future institution.
With this initiative, the IV Constitutional Government’s objective is to strengthen the private sector. Apart from that, the program of this Government underlines the fact that the private sector is an essential partner in national development “because it generates wealth and employment outside the State’s activities and structures”.
According to the Vice-Minister of Economy and Development, Cristiano da Costa, “one of the most important components is to institute a bank that can create a line of credit that encourages and stimulates national businessman to fulfill their role as development partners of the Government”.
At a time where the country is striving to promote national development, it maters to encourage public investment. “Nowadays the State is the country’s biggest “shareholder” in development. We want the private sector as a partner “shareholder” of the Government. For that, there is a need for the Government to be involved in this process. The intervention by Government or the State, is made through the budget, regulation, financial support and stimulus, therefore for that there is a need for a national bank”, explains the Vice-Minister of Economy and Development.
Timor-Leste has, nowadays, three foreign commercial banks operating in the territory: the ANZ (Australian), the Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Portuguese) and the Mandiri (Indonesian). The Government’s purpose, by creating a national bank, is not to compete with these foreign banks but complement credit access to national companies.
The Government wants to encourage the private sector, stimulate the private sector and to create a culture of credit and savings in the country”, explains the Vice-Minister, adding that “it was this reasoning that was behind the plan for the creation of the National Development Bank under the guardianship and supervision, in a first phase, of the Ministry of Economy and Development”.
