MADRID | Supermarket chains serve a few of our basic needs and so the sector is faring better than other industries against the fierce crisis that is lacerating the European economy day in, day out. The same goes for Spain. Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación DIA, the distribution chain, said Thursday that its sales in Spain had grown by 6 percent during the first half of the year. DIA reported today…
NEW YORK | Their outlook remains negative, but there is some brightness in the horizon, the agency reckons. Standard and Poors will not cut Spain’s rating because it believes the country has done its homework, showing a strong commitment to economic and fiscal adjustment. It will continue to receive support from its European partners and the ECB and therefore its debt will remain below 80 percent of GDP beyond 2015….
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | On Tuesday afternoon, July 31, the Council for Fiscal and Financial Policy (CPFF by its Spanish initials) will meet the central government in order to establish the deficit target and debt levels of each region in Spain for 2013. It is expected that the regions will adapt themselves to the general targets, which marked a mutual deficit of 0.7% for 2013, 0.1% for 2014…
MADRID | Nobody seems to pay much attention to bad news these days. The stock market shows a bullish bias, recovering from the lows it plunged into driven by fears of utter collapse. Yet, recession has intensified its slide, the second quarter showing a 0,4% GDP decrease. With no prospects of redressing the downturn till the middle of next year, at the best, future outlook doesn’t provide much room for optimism….
The Spanish tether already seems overstretched. On Monday, the national institute for statistics published fresh data confirming a forecast released days before by the country’s central bank, which warned of a contracting GDP: at -0.4 percent, records for the second quarter of the year were indeed 0.1 percent worse than for the first three months. Private consumption and investment have fallen, year on year rates of industrial prices have risen…
MADRID | The Spanish Economy minister Mr Luis de Guindos boldly stated to feel much the same as in the midst of the sell-out tempest, shortly after Draghi’s soothing promise. No one took seriously his assessment and yet he might be right. After all, Draghi is at best offering extra time to put the house in order. His pledge to save the euro has being interpreted as a clear signal to…
MADRID | Analysts at BNP Paribas’s broker Cortal Consors in Spain said in an investor note that their scenarios for the situation of the unemployment levels would not register any improvement until the second half of next year. Occupation is still under a heavy destruction trend in Spain, with a -4.1 percent during the second quarter of 2012. Unfortunately, data released today by the Spanish institute of statistics backed pessimistic…
MADRID | The Spanish government had good reasons to avoid Mr Ordóñez’s appearance in the parliamentary committee reviewing Bankia’s plight. His cold determined performance flatly exposed gross government failure in addressing the financial crisis. His indictment was based on the nagging fact Spain risk premium ranked last December markedly lower than Italy’s and now even Ireland shows a better record. He accused the government of leaving aside the Bank of…
MADRID | The chain of default warnings is getting larger. If the regions of Murcia and Catalonia confirm they need help from the €18-billion central fund to repay its debt maturities, as Valencia explicitly did on July 20, the autonomous bailout would reach so far €7.7 billion. Of them, €6 billion could be made available with almost immediate effect, as Loterías del Estado would be the lender. The regions’ short-term…
MADRID | Irritation is high in Madrid for partners’ lack of support in enforcing a curfew, let alone a truce, in the raging battle it holds against overwhelming market forces. As leaders go on holiday they leave Spanish assets exposed to utter onslaught. The massive sell-out of sovereigns, securities and shares cannot continue for long without throttling any chance of survival by the time Brussels returns to normal business. Desperate attempts…