SHIELD AND BUCKLER

Comércio de Borba aceita escudos este fim-de-semana

Os comerciantes do concelho alentejano de Borba recebem, desde esta sexta-feira e até domingo, a antiga moeda de escudo nas transacções comerciais efectuadas, numa iniciativa que pretende dinamizar o comércio local. Trata-se da "Iniciativa Escudo", promovida pelo município e pelos estabelecimentos comerciais do concelho, sendo as notas recolhidas posteriormente trocadas no Banco de Portugal.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DO NOT understand Portuguese, the above little snippet was taken yesterday from the Correio da Manhã, the most popular Portuguese daily newspaper, and it is about the town of Borba in southern Portugal, hitherto most known for its wines, these being an acidic paint-stripper of a white wine and a full-bodied, dirt-smelling heavy red, usually euphemistically referred to in the sales jargon as “fruity and citric” in the first case and “oaky and noble” in the second.

BUT IT IS NOT THIS REASON that Borba is in the news this weekend. The local council has decided to make the town an “Escudo zone” in order to stimulate the area’s economy. For this weekend all the restaurants and shops will be using a currency which disappeared eleven years ago.

WHILE THIS MAY SEEM STRANGE for many sensible Europeans, the fact is that pockets of Portugal are going to try this experiment over the coming weeks, sponsored by local councils and tacitly encouraged by the hopeless and hapless government. This is in addition to the many shops which still only trade in Escudos – doing better business nowadays than ever before.

THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT millions of Escudos still exist in private hands, held, usually, by people who refused to believe that the “new currency” would last. As much as twenty percent of the cash on the market at the time of the changeover to the Euro remained in Escudos; in the main the government and fiscal authorities ignored this phenomenon. Indeed, it was good for the economy.

THIS ATTITUDE HAS CHANGED somewhat of late, with a series of initiatives designed to mop up whatever Escudo spillage still exists in an attempt to regain the lost money. This would be a sensible policy during a high point in the economic cycle; given that Portugal is in the depths of recession, it can only mean that the government wants these Escudos off the map for other reasons.

AND THE REASON I SUGGEST is that the Portuguese government knows that as soon as Greece comes out of the Euro Portugal will follow suit within a month, returning to a “new Escudo”, and it will not be convenient to upset all these people who still harbour the notion that it will return to the old one.