Mário José Gomes de Freitas Centeno (born 9 December 1966) is a Portuguese economist, university professor, and politician.

[5][6] His grandfather, Joaquim Gomes, worked as a miner in São Domingos Mine before becoming a successful restaurant owner, starting in 1936, in Vila Real de Santo António.

The new post-crisis situation allowed him to authorize a public pensions' rise and improved wage payment to civil servants as a way to "increase households’ disposable income", while insisting that European Union's budget rules must be respected.

Reportedly favored by an informal agreement between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel,[17] he defeated Pierre Gramegna of Luxembourg, Peter Kažimír of Slovakia and Dana Reizniece-Ozola of Latvia.

Following the resignation of Christine Lagarde as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2019, Centeno was one of the candidates considered by European governments as potential successor; he withdrew his candidacy shortly after[21] and the post went to Kristalina Georgieva instead.

Completely unknown to the public at the time he entered government as minister, Centeno had a reputation for economic liberalism in international academic circles because of his positions and research work in favour of greater labor market flexibility.

[23][24][25][26] In early 2020, the Parliament of Portugal followed Centeno's proposal and approved the country's first budget with a surplus in almost half a century[27] in spite of the number of civil servants has increased for a sixth straight year.

[28][29] But an increasing deterioration of public services including in health, education and transportation infrastructure due to a lack of funding and government spending[30][31] was perceptible[32] while the country continued to fall behind in purchasing power and productivity in the context of the European Union,[33][34] a feature that was associated with the persistent misallocation of capital, labor and skills.

[40][41] By 2022, the Portuguese productivity of labour (PPP) had fallen to the fourth lowest position among the 27 member-states of the European Union with only Bulgaria and Greece being clearly inferior to Portugal in that parameter.

[45] In June 2020, the Portuguese government nominated Centeno as the next governor of the Bank of Portugal, succeeding Carlos da Silva Costa.