Católica Porto Business School, in partnership with PwC, organised the traditional annual conference on the State Budget, an initiative that has been ongoing since 2011. The event took place in the Ilídio Pinho Auditorium at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) in Porto, and the Pro-Rector of UCP, Isabel Braga da Cruz, and the Dean of Católica Porto Business School, João Pinto, gave the opening speeches.
For Isabel Braga da Cruz, this conference "reinforces Católica Porto's position as a centre of excellence in teaching and research in Economics and Management, but also highlights the university's role as a space for dialogue and knowledge sharing between academia, the business community and civil society".
João Pinto reinforced this idea by recalling that "the School was born to respond to companies in the north of the country, which have their own specific characteristics", he said, emphasising that "the strong connection to the business fabric, continues to be a very important aspect for being today a national and international reference school, with triple accreditation by EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB and a place in the Financial Times Top 100 «FT European Business School 2024»".
The introductory notes were followed by the two panels on the programme. The first, on "Macroeconomic perspectives and challenges for sustainable growth", brought together the views of the Associate Dean of the Biotechnology School of UCP, Manuela Pintado, Luís Rochartre (Industry Fellow for the Sustainability area at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa), and Francisco Mendes da Silva (Partner and Co-coordinator of the Tax department at Morais Leitão), moderated by Luísa Anacoreta, Professor and Coordinator of the Double Degree in Law and Management at Católica Porto Business School.
The second panel was dedicated to the most relevant tax changes in the State Budget for 2025 and featured presentations by Filipa Ribeiro (Deals Tax Director at PwC), Cristina Pinto (Professor at Católica Porto Business School), and Hugo Salgueirinho Maia (Tax Partner - Indirect Tax, at PwC). Topics discussed included the changes to corporate income tax, personal income tax, young people's income tax, public debt issues, tax revenue and indirect taxes.
The conference was closed by the Secretary of State for Tax Affairs, Cláudia Reis Duarte, who emphasised that "this is a good budget, which aims to reform, recover and relaunch Portugal responsibly". She also emphasised that these three axes are not exhausted or materialised only in the document approved a week ago.
In the end, João Pinto said that "this is an initiative that also allows our students in the areas of finance, economics, management and taxation, among others, to delve into topics of interest and practical experience on this subject" and that "it is an important sign of vitality to have around 400 participants, both in person and online, attending this conference".
