According to data from the Ministry of Labour, wages agreed in collective agreements rose by an average of 2.26% up to February, two tenths more than in January and almost eight tenths above the average for 2021 (1.47%). However, this is far off the CPI, whose final figure for the second month of the year was 7.6%, the highest rate in almost 36 years. Most of the agreements registered up…
Yesterday, during the meeting of the Summit of Autonomous Community Presidents held on the Canary Island of La Palma, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez proposed a change in his fiscal policy by proposing a tax cut, set out in the so-called Declaration of La Palma. Sánchez has not specified what this tax cut the government is working on will entail. He has limited himself to assuring it will alleviate the “sectors…
Business associations representing industry operating in Spain have joined forces for the first time to call on the government to intervene urgently to change the electricity market rules and end the sharp rise in prices due to the conflict in Ukraine. The associations are calling on the government to adopt an urgent decision in the Council of Ministers to reform the marginal electricity market for the duration of the conflict,…
Fernando González Urbaneja | The risk of inflation which last autumn seemed temporary, caused by a temporary rise in energy prices, has become systemic. And the longer-term and worrying consequences threaten stagflation (inflation without growth and with unemployment). Economic textbooks warn that inflation is a monetary phenomenon that can be cured with monetary policy, with restrictions in the form of interest rate rises and a reduction in the money supply….
Peter Goves, MFS Investment Management | Despite acknowledging the uncertainty stemming from the Ukraine conflict, the ECB policy decision had a hawkish tilt. Indeed, the ECB chose to wind down the APP schedule more quickly than the December guidance and revised its rate guidance. The ECB also tweaked its guidance and removed a previous dovish bias which referenced the prospect of rates remaining at present or lower levels. The market…
Fernando Rodríguez| Sovereign wealth funds’ investment in Spanish companies last year was the third largest in total volume in the last 10 years. This is according to the report Sovereign Wealth Funds 2021 Changes and Challenges accelerated by the Covid 19 pandemic, presented today by Icex and the Instituto de Empresa (IE). GIC, one of Singapore’s two sovereign wealth funds, and Abu Dhabi’s investment vehicle were the two most active…
Orange España, the French group’s Spanish subsidiary, and the MásMóvil group have confirmed exclusive talks with a view to a 50/50 merger of their respective businesses through a €19.6 billion joint venture. This would value Orange at €8.1 billion and Másmóvil at €11.5 billion. The resulting new group would become the leader in the Spanish mobile market, with 27 million mobile customers, and would have combined revenues and EBITDA of…
Julián González (Capital Madrid) | The war in Ukraine has brought economic and energy chaos to Spain and the whole of Europe. Brussels does not rule out the possibility of a collapse at all levels due to the upward spiral of both oil and gas prices. And it has forced many countries to prepare to face the biggest energy crisis, even greater than those in 1973 and 1979. The European…
Today, International Women’s Day, feminism in Spain will be divided… and dissatisfied, according to a survey published today by the newspaper El Mundo, which explains that: Feminism arrives at 8-M more divided than ever, with two separate demonstrations in twenty cities that show the inability of the PSOE and Unidas Podemos to bring positions closer together and iron out the culture wars of our time. From the Trans Law to…
The average price of electricity in the wholesale market will rise this Monday by 16.76% and will mark its most expensive record in history, an average of 442 euros/MWh. This is amid the heat of the rise in the price of natural gas due to the impact of the war in Ukraine. It will thus surpass the previous all-time high of 383.67 euros/MWh, which was reached on 23 December. Furthermore,…