By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | The way the data on the Spanish deficit snowballed from 6% in mid-December to 8% a few weeks later and to 8.51% now, has led many to raise their eyebrows in utter disbelief. Even allowing for some benign neglect shown by the out coming government, such a huge deviation adds little credit to budgetary figures outside central administration boundaries. It not only proves…
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | I give you today a couple of graphics, which measure how the process of internal devaluation is going in that peripheral crown, Spain. First, the industry labour costs (wages, red line) and producer prices. Then, industrial production. Everything in annual variations. As readers can see, the boom years were not quite as buoyant in terms of industrial production. Meanwhile, wages were well above the prices, at 4%, trimming production margins. It is a reflection of the brick-and-morter boom, which revitalised wages and sturdy houses…
LONDON | Odd. After months of mild fireworks of demonstrations against austerity throughout Spain, it seems hard to believe that Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, international economics editor at The Daily Telegraph, would be struck. Even president Mariano Rajoy acknowledged that his reform plans for the labour market would probably spark a general strike. But Evans-Pritchard was struck, nevertheless: “In the twenty years or so that I have been following EU affairs closely, I cannot remember such a…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | Mervyn King sharply pointed out that banks are global in life but turn national in dying. The opposite can be applied to deficit targets. When you enjoy a comfortable budgetary position, you are able to fix them at your own wish. Brussels may get the sulks if you go beyond certain limits and fall into excessive overruns. But it can do very little…
By Carlos Díaz Guell | In 2011, for the first time in recent history, the stock of finance for house purchase recorded a fall. The number of mortgages granted on housing dropped by 33%, that is a quarter of the transactions that were completed in 2006. This correction, which will most probably happen again in 2012, follows the evolution of the real economy. But it also is the result of a process…
They are thriving, actually. National statistics office INE on Friday published January’s data for the hotel sector in Spain and figures were all bright, a repeated event that has lately become a relief spot and an anchor for the economy of the country. Foreign tourist numbers were up by 4.6pc year on year to 2.78 million, average revenue per room rose by 0.1pc to €68.3 million, and occupation was 37.4pc…
MADRID | The Spain’s minister of Economy and Competitiveness Luis de Guindos announced Wednesday that he will explain the euro group the country’s 2011 budgetary slippages “with transparency and and accuracy,” reports new agency EFE. De Guindos also will defend that this year’s Spain’s commitment to fiscal consolidation is ‘absolute’, in spite of the estimated 2011 ‘complex’ deficit drift of 8.5% (from previous 6%) and the EU’s economy negative growth…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | The new elected Cabinet warned in mid-December about a substantial deviation from the planned deficit in last year. Its early forecast pointed to a revised figure of around 8% in terms of GDP, in stark contrast with the 6% target, claimed by the out coming government to have roughly held on line. Final deficit, announced on Monday by the Finance minister, has climbed to…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | 60,000 professionals and 1,500 companies from more than 200 countries (86 of the participating firms are Spanish) gather since Monday and for a further week in the Mobile World Congress MWC held in Barcelona. It is the seventh meeting edition hosted by the Spanish city, and the first one since Barcelona was awarded the title of Mobile World Capital last July, an honour that…
His message was clear, no frills: “We are paying the consequences of Germany and France breaking the Fiscal Pact in 2003,” stated Spain’s economy minister Luis de Guindos on Friday at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. In his first official visit to the US, Mr De Guindos tried to spur US confidence, explaining the key points of financial and labour reforms in Spain. “Europe and Spain’s main problem…