In Spain

Net wealth of European households lost in the crisis recovered; now is over seven times disposable income

Spain reports greatest loss of income (-7.85%) among OECD countries since pandemic

Of the 31 OECD countries analysed, nine recorded an increase in real per capita household income, while twelve recorded a fall, although among the large eurozone economies only Spain maintained its deterioration, with a loss of 7.85%, the worst figure of all the OECD countries. Although this household income exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2022 in almost all OECD countries, Spain led the group of those that…


tunnel light end

Wide trains as a symptom

Fernando González Urbaneja | The case of the trains that do not fit in the tunnels is a significant anecdote both of a huge, astonishing error in design and commissioning, and of the absence of explanations and a coherent account of what happened. What we do know is confusing and the laments of the regional presidents affected are insufficient to understand the case. The comments from the ministry and ADIF…


telefonica

Telefónica to collaborate with Saudi operator STC Group to develop business in Middle East and North Africa

Link Securities | Telefónica has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Saudi Arabian telecommunications operator STC Group to develop joint business in the Middle East and North Africa. With the signing of this agreement, STC Group becomes a member of TEF’s Partners Program, an initiative of alliances with other operators launched by the Spanish company in 2011 and covering more than 65 markets in Europe, Latin America, the Middle…


LNG regasification ship

Spanish imports of Russian gas up 54% in 2022

Natural gas imports from Algeria to Spain plummeted by 40% in 2022, with Algeria falling to second place among suppliers and representing 23.9% of Spain’s total. These figures, according to sources in the sector, will continue to fall during this year, 2023, as “orders placed during the first months of 2022 for natural gas, before relations between Moncloa and Algiers broke down, have yet to be deducted”. And if this…


repsolatardecer

Repsol continues to accelerate growth of self-consumption business through Solmatch

Renta 4| Repsol (REP), through Solmatch, has more than 350 installations in Spain. Solmatch is a sustainable energy service focused on distributed or decentralised generation in Spain that was launched by the company in 2020. Repsol has agreements to develop solar communities (collective self-consumption). One of these agreements is with the Lasalle Schools, where the entities have committed to developing a total of 29 self-consumption parks in different schools located…


Renfe CAF

New commuter trains for northern Spain too big for tunnels

Renfe is delaying by up to three years the construction of 31 commuter trains for 258 million euros, to be used on ‘Cercanías’ lines mainly in Cantabria, but also in Asturias, Euskadi, Galicia, Castilla y León and Murcia. The thirty or so trains that Renfe promised in 2020 will be delayed by at least three years due to a miscalculation in the dimensions of the convoys, which means that they…


escriva

Public administration does not work

Fernando González Urbaneja | Public systems are not working; waiting lists in hospitals are lengthening; primary care services are collapsing; and Social Security and SEPES offices are not responding… Miguel Valverde one of the best informed journalists on pensions and labour relations describes in Monday’s Expansión what he calls the “Colapso de la Seguridad Social”. It is impossible to get an appointment by telephone or in person. This has been…


pedro sanchez

A government opposed to employers and profits

Fernando González Urbaneja | This is nothing new. Placing successful entrepreneurs and corporate profits as targets of electoral political debate has been part of the agenda of more than a few political parties, especially the most extreme ones, both on the right and on the left. The novelty now in Spain is that the president of the government and of the socialist party is taking up this argument as one…


Spanish public debt

Mutual funds in Spain last 15 years: from +334% for Caixabank Multisalud to -71% for BBVA Megatendencia Demographia

Pablo Fernández | The average return of mutual funds in Spain over the last 15 years (1.1% p.a.) was lower than the investment in 15-year Spanish government bonds (4.4% p.a.). The average return of the IBEX 35 was 0.5% p.a., that of the Eurostoxx 50 was 2.8% p.a. and that of the S&P was 8.8% p.a. Some 31 funds out of the 580 with a 15-year history outperformed 15-year government…


pedro sanchez reflexiona

€146 million: Sánchez doubles propaganda spending of last PP government

The year 2023 is marked by the regional and municipal elections in May and the general elections in December. This fact is noticeable in the budgets dedicated by the Government to institutional advertising. The plan approved in the last Council of Ministers foresees an expenditure of €145.98 million in campaigns of all kinds. Since Sánchez arrived at the Moncloa, the number of institutional campaigns has not stopped growing. From the…