One of the effects of the long, deep crisis has been the redrawing of the political map in Spain, as well as in other European countries, but these new balances need to mature and consolidate. The process is underway, but the destination has not been written down. Over the last few years we have witnessed the confusion of the European social democrats.
The average number of employed people signed on with the Social Security rose 1.13% to 17.661.840 in May from April, according to data released by the Employment and Social Security Ministry. Meanwhile, the number of jobless fell by 119,768 people in May from the previous month, standing at below 4 million for the first time in six years.
The Spanish banks could use mergers to achieve cost savings of up to 27%, due the increase in asset volumes these transactions would bring. The entities emerging from these tie-ups with over 200 billion euros in assets would cut costs between 8% and 27%, while those with 50-100 billion euros in assets could save between 4% and 20%, according to the latest edition of think-tank Funcas’ bi-monthly Economic Information Journal.
For some months now, social security contributions have been insufficient to pay for pensions, and it doesn’t look like the recovery in the economic cycle will correct the problem. Faced with a problem of these dimensions, the political parties have come up with various alternatives.
Francisco López | BBVA chairman, Francisco Gonzalez, is the one who usually speaks out about the banking sector’s problems, without worrying too much about the criticisms he may receive. González was the one who most actively spoke out in international fora (in particular at the Institute of International Finance (IIF)’s spring meeting) about the bad situation of some of the savings banks, although by doing that he damaged the image of the whole Spanish banking sector.
Julius Baer Research | The potentially shortest Spanish legislature is bound to come to an end on 26 June 2016 when Spain will elect a new parliament for the second time within six months. Since the politicians have failed to form a new government after the last general election in December 2015, King Felipe VI has dissolved the parliament and called for new elections.
There was a time, during the Spanish property boom, when Spain was capable of taking in six millions of inmigrants and build more than Germany, France Italy and UK together, in which cement consumption also beat records: more than the whole of the US. Now that public works have hit a soft –and hopefully- temporary bump it has descended.
Fernando Barciela and F.G. Ljubetic | So finally, the urban legend which was created around Spanish Sicavs is beginning to have the results everyone expected; namely that their owners have either begun to close them down, put the brakes on their investments or even consider the possibility of moving to more temperate climes to be found in locations like Luxembourg, Geneva or London.
It has been revealed this week that Spain’s public debt has exceeded 100% of GDP for the first time, reaching 1.095 billion euros. According to the Bank of Spain, this figure represents about 101% of GDP. Almost at the same time, Bloomberg published a graph showing that this level had not been seen since 1909, as well as the level of debt during the Spanish Civil War. With just one month to go to new elections in Spain is this graph oportunistic?