The price was also high compared to what is being paid in other countries for the deployment of 5G technology, which is key to their competitiveness. For example, in the UK operators have paid €325m for 20 MHz blocks of the 700 MHz band vs. an initial starting price of €400m here, despite the UK telecoms market’s turnover being twice that of Spain’s.”
Major European industry players, co-led by Iberdrola and Telefónica, has launched a programme to train five million people in the European Union by 2030. The aim is to boost education and the search for structural solutions to combat unemployment on the continent, Europa Press reported. The initiative, called ‘Re-skilling 4 Employment’ (R4E), has been promoted by the main European business lobby, the European Round Table for Industry (ERT). It is headed up by firms such as Iberdrola, Telefónica, AstraZeneca, Nestlé, SAP, Sonae and Volvo Group.
CriteriaCaixa, which with 24.8% of the capital is the main shareholder of Naturgy, the third Spanish energy company, not only will not go to the offer of the Australian IFM, already completely out of price, but has also reaffirmed its willingness to reach the limit of 30% prior to the forced launch of a takeover bid (OPA).
T.C. | Data on Spanish exports during the first quarter of this year, released yesterday by the “Exporters’ Club”, shows an upturn of 4.9% to 72.307 billion euros. This is 7.9 points higher than the rate for the same period in 2020, which was -3%. So Spanish exports of goods are already at the same level as in 2019. In fact, in March the increase in exports from Spain (29.9%)…
Fernando Rodríguez | 96.3% of the outstanding volume of Spanish fixed income with rating – 1.76 trillion euros – was Investment Grade, BBB or higher – at the end of 2020. This is only three tenths of a percentage point lower than in March of the same year, according to a study included in the CNMV Bulletin for the first quarter of this year, published recently. The supervisor’s study concludes…
T.C. | Of the 67 projects submitted in the first call for proposals for the Spanish sandbox – the testing ground for financial innovation – 18, one in four, have received the green light. Spain wants to promote the digital transformation of the financial system with a testing environment, allowing trials to be carried out without the rigid regulatory restrictions. But with strict supervision by the Bank of Spain, the…
Javier Ibáñez de Aldecoa Fuster (CaixaBank Research) | 2020 has now been left behind; a year that will be remembered in the tourism industry as the toughest in recent history. In 2021, the fight against the pandemic continues and restrictions on movement and trade are still preventing normal economic activity, hitting tourism-dependent businesses particularly hard. However, the roll-out of the vaccines will provide a turning point once immunity is achieved among the population most at risk. Our projections point to a strong recovery in the sector during the second half of the year, resulting in tourism GDP growing by 80% annually, once again becoming one of the driving forces for the Spanish economy.
Juan Pedro Marín Arrese | The European plan is still sleeping the sleep of the just. The first consignments are expected after the summer if there are no setbacks and delays. A common occurrence, judging by experience. This delay contrasts with the huge injections of spending on the other side of the Atlantic. Jerome Powell’s tussle with the markets illustrates the extent to which activity has regained its pulse. Once…
The number of new companies registered its highest year-on-year increase in March since 1995, when the historical series began, with growth of 61.8%, to a total of 10,968 new firms. This is the highest figure in almost 13 years, according to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE). With this year-on-year increase in March, the number of new companies created has now been positive for two consecutive months, after having risen by 3.1% in February.
According to the Governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, NGEU funds may be used to facilitate the approval of structural reforms The setting up of a capitalisation fund for each employee to finance part of their severance pay in the event of dismissal is an example of a reform that is desirable for the economy as a whole, but costly for certain agents in the short run.