Business News & Financial News

In Spain 8th May 2026

Rising Costs and Minimum Wage Destroy 16,223 Small Businesses

Cepyme, the employers’ association for small and medium-sized enterprises, warns of a 29% increase in labor costs for small businesses since 2019. It also cautions about further closures and layoffs in micro-enterprises if the conflict in Iran persists. Between the first quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2025—a five-year period—the statutory minimum wage (SMI) in Spain grew by 22.7%, rising from €965 to €1,184 (paid in fourteen installments)….

European economy, In Europe 8th May 2026

Eurozone economy contracts for first time in over a year: composite PMI drops to 48.8

The Eurozone is in decline. Business activity suffers its sharpest contraction in 17 months. Rising prices and disruptions to travel and supplies are causing concern, as they threaten to worsen the slowdown. Consejeros Editorial Team The Eurozone economy has contracted for the first time in nearly a year and a half. Final data for the April PMI “confirm the early signs of an economy heading toward decline, as the war…

In the World, World economy 6th May 2026

IMF Managing Director warns of adverse scenario of 2.5% global growth and inflation above 5%

Norbolsa | The IMF director warns that with the conflict dragging on and oil prices heading towards $120, we are moving away from the baseline scenario—which envisaged a moderate impact on growth—towards the adverse scenario, which envisaged global growth of 2.5% and inflation above 5%. At the same forum, the chairman of Chevron warned that product supply shortages will begin to be felt, with Asian demand adjusting to lower supply.

“We need to approach negotiations with the U.S. on terms that are completely different from those currently being proposed”

Says Antonio Bonet, president of the Club of Spanish Exporters and Investors. He points out that “Europe has a single tariff applied by all member states, but the U.S. applies a tariff to each country, meaning it can decide that the tariff applied to Spanish black olives is higher than that for Italian olives, as it did at one point. So there is a part of the negotiation between Europe…

“Fifteen years ago, the European economy was larger than that of the U.S. Today, the U.S. economy is one and a half times that of Europe”

“It is a shame that we are able to mobilize economic resources for large-scale projects abroad, but not in our Spanish market”

In an interview with Consejeros magazine, Sacyr’s coordinating advisor, Elena Jiménez de Andrade, explains that now “We have great capacity to win projects, a capacity that until now contrasted with a series of financial limitations and balance sheet size. However, in this strategic cycle, we are going to eliminate those barriers. That is why we have set an ambitious goal for 2033: to triple the value of our assets. We…

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