Spain’s 2017 budget leaves little room for manoeuvre. It represents exactly 39%, the percentage the state can freely make decisions on what do with from what it raises and borrows. It shows that, despite the fact the economy is doing well, we have a lot of problems.
Spanish banks registered net profit of 7.987 billion euros in 2016, 23.1% less than a year earlier, according to data provided on Thursday by the Spanish Banking Association. These results were affected by special temporary and specific factors in 2016, without which earnings would have been 12% higher than in 2015.
Whatever you think of Mariano Rajoy, you can’t deny his ability to dig in. When in opposition, as leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), he survived two general election losses, as well as thwarting mutinies within his own ranks; as prime minister since 2011 he has ridden through economic near-meltdown, the threat of new parties Podemos and Ciudadanos and a torrent of corruption scandals.
Carlos Bravo | To be able to maintain current Spanish pensions model in 2050, when the large majority of the baby-boom generation will reach retirement age, we will need to raise pension spending to around 15% of GDP. This is a significant challenge, but one which is perfectly doable. The challenges of the system are two-fold: guarantee its financial sustainability and ensure there are sufficient funds available.
Families are investing money in the stock market. And a lot of it. In fact, households and non-profitable organisations providing services for Spanish households own 155.313 billion euros worth of shares, according to figures published by the Bank of Spain.
The savings rate for Spanish households is currently 7.7% of their gross disposable income, the lowest level for a decade. The fact is that the current low interest rate scenario doesn’t encourage saving, but boosts households’ tendency for spending.
As the Easter week holiday kicks off, the positive outlook for Spain’s tourism and hotel sector augurs yet another record-beating season. During this week, the occupancy rate in some tourism areas in Andalucia will be almost 100%, while on the islands nearly 90% occupancy is predicted.
Guy Hedgecoe | When it was announced last month that Basque terrorist group ETA was planning to disarm by April 8th, a couple of editors working for foreign media rang me to ask the same thing: How important is this? It was a fair question. There are two very different perspectives on the separatist organisation’s decision to give up its weapons via a team of international intermediaries in the south of France on Saturday.
J.L.M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | The Spanish economy’s financing capacity compared with the rest of the world stood at 8.943 billion euros in the fourth quarter, representing 3.1% of GDP. For the year as a whole, the financing capacity was 22.752 billion euros, 2% of GDP.
Investment in property assets in Spain rose 50% to 3.417 billion euros in the first quarter of 2017 from a year earlier, according to a report by CBRE. The retail segment (commercial centres and premises) was the most popular.