Spanish economy

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For the Spanish economy 2015 may be a mini boom

BARCELONA | By Joan Tapia | We don’t know what 2016 holds for us, but we do know that 2015 will be economically positive. From an economic point of view, 2015 may even be a mini-boom. Apart from the GDP, which has been growing for five quarters, the tax collection is doing relatively well. The central government will stop containing the public spending, even for the Spanish regions, because 2015 is an electoral year. The fiscal reform will be a sort of increase in salary that will boost consumption.


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Spanish CPI falls by 7 tenths due to drop in oil prices

MADRID | The Corner | It was expected that the fall in the oil prices would have an impact on the Spanish CPI, and that is what has happened. The CPI dropped by six tenths in December with respect to the previous month, while it reduced its interannual rate by seven tenths to -1.1%. This fall is the result almost exclusively of the decline of the oil price, whose fluctuations represent more than 50% of the variability of the Spanish inflation.


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Recovery and electoral expectations

MADRID | By Fernando G. Urbaneja | Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy faces 2015 with electoral commitments and weak prospects. The goal of the Popular Party (PP) is to reach enough votes so as to maintain a large part of its power in the Spanish regions and city councils where it has the majority. The final goal is achieving the re-election in the central government by means of achieving the recovery.


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Spanish economy is improving despite a growing political malaise

BARCELONA | By Joan Tapia | Last month, I warned about the serious political problem in Spain, which was (and is) focused on the Catalonian crisis and the rise of the new political party Podemos. Both could disrupt the political system and kill off imperfect bipartisanship. Meanwhile, the economy was starting to show some signs of improvement. In November, the perception that the economy is improving while politics are worsening has increased and multiplied. It is difficult to argue with the fact that the economy is going better than last year.


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Spanish tariff deficit “no longer a source of concern for investors”

MADRID | The Corner | The Spanish Council of Ministers has approved the definitive figure for the 2013 tariff deficit. The figure, €3.54 billion, will be recoverable via the electricity tariff over a period of 15 years. It will be remunerated at 2.195% of interest rate. The measure will have an impact on the main utilities that operate in Spain: EDP (Ba1 p, BB+ e, BBB- e), Enel (Baa2 n, BBB e, BBB+ e), Gas Natural Fenosa (Baa2 e, BBB e, BBB+ e) and Iberdrola (Baa1 n, BBB e, BBB+ e).


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Inflation in Spain: Negative territory for 5 consecutive months

MADRID | The Corner | Spain’s final CPI in November was exactly the same as preliminary estimates: -0.4% yoy and -0.1% per month. The inter-annual rate has registered its fifth month in deflation, whereas the month-on-month rate was recorded as negative for the first time in 4 months. Throughout 2014, there were only three months with negative rates. Both the acceleration of the fall in oil prices and the stability of the dollar/euro explain these figures.


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Companies’ destruction in Spain approaching end of the tunnel

MADRID | The Corner | Almost 8,000 companies were created in Spain in October, according to official figures, around 3% more y-o-y. The rate of businesses destruction went down by -12.2%, showing the economy’s slight improvement. However, unemployment still sits painfully at  23.7% and entrepreneurs still complain about red tape and other restrictions.




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Spain’s unemployment registers its best numbers in 19 years

MADRID | The Corner | The number of unemployed people registered in the Public Services of Employment has fallen to 4,512,116. It dropped by 14,688 people in November with respect to the previous month. This represents the best figure for November since records began in 1996, according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The unemployment rate has now fallen for three consecutive months