Top Stories

In Spain

No Picture

Spanish economy 15th September 2014

Spain will join countries guaranteeing ECB’s ABS

MADRID | The Corner | As expected, eurozone finance ministers have yet to agree on the guarantees requested by Mario Draghi for the riskier asset-backed securities (ABS), the so-called mezzanine level. Some countries such as Spain have already expressed their intention to guarantee them if some country of the zone euro did. Spanish economy minister pointed out that securitizations in Spain would not be at a comparative disadvantage. For the time being, not  Germany nor France or the Netherlands will grant any collateral to the financial sector.

spain gdp growth

Spanish economy 9th September 2014

OECD to Spain: Reform your reforms

MADRID | The Corner | Monetary policy is practically exhausted, there is almost no room for fiscal manoeuver due to the excess of indebtment… the only possible move for Spain now is “reforming the reform,” as Barclays’ Alberto Vigil commented on Tuesday. The Paris-based think-tank, who as usual warned about the huge unemployment rate and the deflation risk on Monday, recommended increasing consumer, property, and green taxes, and reducing employer contributions to social security for less-skilled workers.

No Picture

Spanish economy 2nd September 2014

Spanish Social Security lost 100,000 affiliated in August

MADRID | The Corner | Unemployment continues to afflict Spaniards and official figures released on Tuesday added even more pressure on the authorities: 8,700 more jobless people were registered in August, the first rise in unemployment after six months of improvement.

No Picture

Spanish economy 29th August 2014

Santander to issue contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) for third time in 2014

MADRID | The Corner | Santander will issue contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) worth up to 1,500 million euros. In order to reach its aim, the bank will start a road show to sound out the market interest and, in case of suitable conditions, it will start the operation on Monday or Tuesday next week with the collaboration of Credit Suisse, HSBC, JP Morgan, Société Générale and UBS. This issue of CoCos will be the third that the Spanish bank carries out this year, after the issue of 1,5000 million euros in March at an interest rate of 6.25% and another one in May when it sold CoCos worth 1,500 million dollars at 6.375%.

Economy minister de Guindos

Spanish economy 26th August 2014

Merkel supports Luis de Guindos to be the next President of the Eurogroup

MADRID |The Corner | After a meeting between Mariano Rajoy and Angela Merkel in Santiago de Compostela, the German chancellor gave her support to the candidature of the Spanish Economy Minister, Luis de Guindos, to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem as President of the Eurogroup. As Barclays analysts comment, “with Italy’s and France’s leftwing governments and UK in or out of the EU, Spain is now a more attractive partner.” Regarding Germany, Angela Merkel recognised that the crisis in Ukraine is damaging the German economy. Nevertheless, Merkel affirmed that she forecasts a good annual growth if nothing dramatic happens.

Gruas torre Pingon1

Spanish economy 22nd August 2014

Spanish construction sector will grow in 2015 for the first time in 6 years

MADRID | The Corner | The construction sector in Spain will grow next year by 1% compared to 2014, according to Cesce, a company specialized in credit services and commercial risk management. Thus this growth will change the downward trend that had maintained the sector during the last six years. According to Cesce, the building will boost the sector but the public works and engineering will have to reach the bottom and it will not start to recover until 2016, when it will reach 3% growth YoY.

No Picture

Spanish economy 22nd August 2014

Spanish Treasury bills trading at negative rates for the first time in history

MADRID | The Corner | Although the eurozone economy in August has become the main focus of investors’ concern, peripheral debt continues to attract them. Yesterday, for the first time in history, the Spanish Treasury 3-months bills traded at negative rates on the secondary market. To date, the Treasury has covered 70% of the expected gross issuance in 2014 of 242,370 million euros, which means a decrease in the average cost of outstanding debt of 14 basis points since December 2013 to stand at 3.59% . However, the Treasury decided yesterday to cancel the auction of bonds and notes scheduled owing to the absence of investors because of the summer season.

No Picture

Spanish economy 21st August 2014

Spain registers the highest EU construction growth in 2Q

MADRID | The Corner | Spain was the EU28 member state with the highest increase in the production in construction during the 2Q, with an increase by 7.0% YoY, according to first estimates from Eurostat. Moreover, Spain was the fourth country in the EU28 with the biggest increase in the production in June, with a growth of 6.8%. However, the construction experienced a decline of 2.9% in June in comparison to May, which represents the second biggest monthly decline of this variable among the EU28 member states. In June compared with May 2014, seasonally adjusted production in the construction sector fell by 0.7% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU28.

No Picture

Spanish economy 14th August 2014

Spain’s growth beats its EZ larger peers in the 2Q

MADRID | The Corner | Spain’s GDP expanded by 0.6% in the 2Q of 2014 over the previous quarter, the fastest pace in the Eurozone after Latvia’s growth (+1%). With Portugal (+0.6%) and Netherlands (+0.5%), Spain becomes one of the best economic performers in the eurozone during this quarter. Moreover, according to the figures published today by Eurostat, the Euro area has stalled in the 2Q, especially as a result of the contraction of Germany, the Italian fall into recession and France’s stagnation. Meanwhile, the Greek economy contracted by 0.2%, the lowest drop since 3Q 2008 and it could show that the country is meeting its full year growth target of 0.6% for 2014.