Something happened Friday September 28. Catalonia sold €2 billion in bonds and Spain’s Treasury minister announced that the regions rescue fund is now open for business to provide capital aid to Barcelona. The central government has a strong case to deactivate the Catalan conflict while reassuring markets with a restructuring plan of the state’s administration.
While national identity tensions belong to an ongoing debate, the fiscal irritation that Catalonia feels can be easily soothed. Madrid must offer a fairer treatment to a region whose economic output sets the best hopes for Spain to exit the crisis.
MADRID | Whereas London has gone to battle in the Scottish independence referendum, Madrid would rather focus on the dire situation of the state finances and a looming rescue when challenged by Catalan independentists. Carlos Díaz Guell believes the Spanish government has no spare strength to spend.
The Catalonian regional government has filed a request for help warning Madrid it will not accept any condition linked to such rescue. For a Cabinet in desperate need of cash to keep running its services, the flat refusal to take on board any tip seems a bit reckless. But it has a trump card in its bid to soften Madrid resistance. It is threatening to trigger a full fledged confrontation…
The implications of recent developments in Catalonia's export activity are bound to agitate the political scene of the region more than its economic stand, which remains at a deficit of around €15 billion. According to the statistics institute of the autonomous government, the Generalitat, Catalan exports to non-Spanish markets in 2011 were higher for the first time than those to Spain: the regional department for the Economy said the international trade percentage…
The amount of money spent by international tourists visiting Spain from January to November 2011 was €49.985 billion, that is 8.1% more than last year according to figures reported in the Survey of Tourist Expenditures (Egatur) of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. The average expenditure per tourist stood at €929 in the first eleven months, 0.2% more than during the same period in 2010, while average daily spending…
