The startups in Google’s Campus Madrid have created 2.354 jobs and raised over 37.5 million euros in financing since it began in 2015, according to the company’s annual report on this project. Google points out that the contribution from Madrid to the total jobs created by all the Campuses “is relevant”, given that as a whole, the six centres across the world have created over 11,000 jobs.
Judging by the latest valuations which have appeared in the press, the balance of the first five years of Spain’s bad bank, Sareb, is little less than disastrous. But the bank’s performance has been praised by Brussels and by Germany, who have said it has completed its objective of stabilising the Spanish financial system.
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.
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.
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.