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Spanish economy 27th January 2012

Why Rajoy did not demand Merkel more flexibility for Spain

[UPDATE] By Julia Pastor, in MADRID | The Spanish president Mariano Rajoy visited Berlin on Thursday. It was his first official meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel since he was sworn in as president. Against the backdrop of the next January 31 European summit, it was expected that Rajoy would propose Merkel to relax Spain’s deficit ceiling for 2012 and 2013, considering the appreciable cutting of IMF’s growth perspectives for…

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Spanish economy 25th January 2012

Social enterpreneurship in Spain: Momentum’s new edition

BARCELONA | ESADE and BBVA Foundation in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers on Wednesday opened the second edition of Momentum Project 2012. The initiative aims to contribute to the development of social entrepreneurship in Spain, creating a support network for these companies to consolidate, grow and increase their impact. In the first edition, Momentum funded seven projects with a €3 million capital injection through a finance tool designed by BBVA. The presentation in…

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Spanish economy 24th January 2012

The rain in Spain is fairly plain

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The bank with the greater economic weight in the euro zone is Spanish, Spain’s national football team won the World Championship, and so did the national basket team; the number two in the tennis ranking is from Majorca, Spanish chefs are in the covers of the most important newspapers of the world, foreign tourists and no tourists adore the jamón ibérico… The history of…

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Spanish economy 21st January 2012

Weekend long read: Spain’s finance and economy ministers open their portfolios to Wall Street and Frankfurt

By Ana Fuentes in New York, and Julia Pastor in Madrid | Right before the three crucial meetings (Eurogroup, Ecofin and European Council) that will take place in the next 10 days, the Spanish government is deploying its best arguments in order to regain markets’ trust. Rajoy’s economic team, the Finance minister Luis de Guindos (left) as well as Cristóbal Montoro, minister of the Treasury, appear in the weekend edition of…

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Spanish economy 18th January 2012

Fitur 2012: in tourism Spain trusts

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | On Wednesday, the International Tourism Fair Fitur 2012 was inagurated in Madrid. This anual event is the most important of the sector in Spain and it will be open until January 22. This year’s edition is marked by the crisis and the resulting financial adjustments made by the autonomic regions, but also by the widespread notion that the tourism sector is the only one…

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Spanish economy 13th January 2012

The UK crowns Spain as the favorite holiday destination in 2012

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Towards the end of 2011, the British press published a news item, that was finally denied, regarding an evacuation plan that the Foreign Office was supposedly preparing to evacuate British citizens resident in Spain in case of a financial crunch. A few days later, at the beginning of the New Year, that same publications crown Spain as the favourite holiday destination for British families…

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Spanish economy 12th January 2012

“Spain will do everything it needs to do,” says the minister of Industry to investors

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The second edition of the Spain Investor’s Day started on Wednesday. This event presents itself as “a unique project in Spain, the great personal encounter of the global investor with Spanish issuers and businesses. Its permanent objective is to present Spain at its highest level as the investors’ destination”. The meeting gathers major listed companies and major institutional investors in order to generate contacts,…

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Spanish economy 12th January 2012

Spain starts the year by placing €10bn: twice the expected, at lower rates

MADRID | Europa Press | The Spanish Treasury managed to successfully close the first auction of the year by placing almost €10bn in bonds, twice the expected amount and at lower than expected rates, thus continuing the good streak of the previous issuances. The agency’s expectations were far exceeded by the result as in the last auction. It had only expected to obtain between €4bn and €5bn. The demand was again…