MADRID | In his the first interview granted to Spanish media as Prime Minister of the Spanish government and after a number of weeks of silence (which has been heavily criticised by the press), Mariano Rajoy explained to new agency Efe some details of his political and economic project for the country. Among many aspects, he spoke of the restructuring of the financial sector for which he announced a re-organisation plan,…
The Spanish Association of Venture Capital (ASCRI is the Spanish acronym) presented the results of the sector in 2011, when the investment of these firms in Spain reached €3.249 billion, 7% less than in 2010, but more than twice the amount invested in 2009. Venture capital has 3,200 million euros to spend on new business investments in Spain, said on Tuesday Maite Ballester, president of ASCRI. Ballester believes that “the…
The amount of money spent by international tourists visiting Spain from January to November 2011 was €49.985 billion, that is 8.1% more than last year according to figures reported in the Survey of Tourist Expenditures (Egatur) of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. The average expenditure per tourist stood at €929 in the first eleven months, 0.2% more than during the same period in 2010, while average daily spending…
MADRID | All the Spanish press reported the new Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos’ statements when he confirmed on Tuesday what everyone already knew: that Spain would go into recession in 2012. According to his predictions, the first trimester of 2012 will register a negative growth, just like the last trimester of this year in which the GDP will decrease by between 0.2% and 0.3%. During the inauguration of…
MADRID | The new Spanish president Mariano Rajoy has announced the names of the 13 ministers who will make up his cabinet, the smallest in the history of democracy. The new government will have just one vice-presidency (the former Economy minister was also vice-president) that will be held by Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, a 40-year old politician and the person known for being highly trusted by president Rajoy. Sáenz de…
In May, the Spanish government passed a law that will transform and liberalise most sectors of the country’s online gambling market starting at the beginning of 2012. For most of the global market (over 90% of the experts surveyed) the future relevance of the Spanish online gambling market is high. Therefore it comes as no surprise that nearly all operators (ca. 80% of the operators surveyed) are likely to apply for…
MADRID | The Spanish Treasury once again took advantage of the moderation of the interest rates and the high demand to place €5,639.92 million in bonds, more than expected, with the intention of preventing a more complicated situation in 2012, according to Bank of Spain data. The Treasury’s expectations were exceeded for the third consecutive time in December since it was hoping to obtain between €3,500 and €4,500 million. More…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Update Mariano Rajoy, elected by an overall majority on November 20, made his investiture speech on Monday. The investiture debate in the Spanish parliament has been held on Tuesday, and after its closing in the afternoon, Mr Rajoy has been officially sworn in as the new Spain’s president. The announce of austerity measures raised yesterday great expectations, since from the election day and in spite of the…