Miguel Navascués | The perception only that pensioners and health spending have lost purchasing power in Spain is not altogether true. We can see this in the data.The UK has a level of public spending per capita only 3% higher, the US 13% and Spain 15% (excluding interest).
The ratings agency Standard & Poors predicts more mergers among medium sized Spanish banks. S&P also 2019 toxic assets on the balance sheets will continue to be reduced and that the main challenge will remain improving profit margins which remain at historic lows. In fact it is this low profitability which will drive consolidation this year which will help achieve synergies, economies of scale and cost cutting.
The Spanish economy capacity for financing abroad has contracted in annual terms to 2015 lows, points Bankia Estudios, in the process undermining the process of deleveraging when global indebtedness still remains at excessive levels.In the case of households, even if disposable income has seen a big increase as a result of the recovery in wages, the greater rhythm in consumption has led to a new fall in savings.
The rate of Spanish donors is the highest in the world, and its transplant system the best. In the last five years Spain has registered the greatest increase in donors since 1989, achieving in 2018 a rate of 48 donors for every million inhabitants, 2,243 in total, and for the 27th consecutive being the world leader in donations and transplants, according to the latest balance of activity from the National Transplant Organisation (ONT), presented this week by the Ministry of Health.
The political instability is not just a Spanish phenomenon. We are far from the climate of the thirties in the 20th century, but the increase in nationalist populism is worrying. 2019 is replete with uncertainties, but it is also true that unemployment in the European Union has fallen below 8% for the first time since the crisis and that in Spain the number of people affiliated with Social Security has recovered pre-2008 levels.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has published the 11th edition of its ranking on the global state of democracy. Of 165 countries in the world, Spain is ranked 19th for the quality of its democracy. It is not bad given the political instability Spain is experiencing. Nor the open breach in confidence following the crisis between citizens and politicians and citizens and economic powers. Nor taking into account Spaniard’ s tendency to self-flagellation.
The Spanish Government will not prolong the useful life of any of the nuclear plants in Spain beyond 40 years, so that it will prioritise the closure of plants of this period. To incentivise the closure of these plants, it has proposed giving the owners more fiscal advantages when obtaining permits for developing renewable energy.
J.L. M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | Según los datos publicados la semana pasada por el Banco de España la tasa de morosidad cayó en octubre hasta un 6,08%, 1,7 puntos más baja que en diciembre y muy por debajo del 8,41% de hace un año.
Spanish think tank Funcas points out that around 60% of the historic improvement in the current account balance comes from the adjustment of cyclical factors, in particular, the economic cycle and the evolution of the oil price, and 40% can be attributed to structural reasons: the process of fiscal consolidation, the ageing population, lower long term growth expectations and gains in competitivity.
Inflation fell six decimal points in November to 1.7%, the lowest in seven months in Spain. Within the deflationary evolution, almost general across components, energy process (electricity and oil) stand out. Analysts at Bankia Estudios predict a further fall for next year: It will recover in the first months of 2019 to around 2% and close the year at 1.5%.