public spending

In Spain 23rd September 2025

Governor of Bank of Spain and Former Minister Now Labels Spanish Public Policies “Inefficient” at Reducing Inequality

“Spain structurally has an income inequality problem that is well-identified, and what it basically shows is that the public policies that should be aimed at reducing this inequality, like many other policies, suffer from a lack of efficiency,” says the Governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, who, as Minister of Inclusion and Social Security, was responsible for designing the Minimum Living Income (IMV) in 2020. Today, the…

In Spain 28th March 2025

Public spending up €230 billion since Sánchez took office, now exceeds €700 billion

The year 2024 ended with consolidated public spending exceeding €700 billion. The final figure, which was revealed this Thursday, amounts to €722.846 billion, an absolute record in history. This fabulous amount is about €230 billion higher than the same concept in 2018, the year Pedro Sánchez came to power as Prime Minister after winning a vote of no confidence against Mariano Rajoy, explains La Razón newspaper. The accounts for 2024…

In Spain 3rd December 2024

Bank of Spain warns: Spain growing due to public spending but losing competitiveness with eurozone due to labour costs

Following the latest and controversial revisions by the National Statistics Institute (INE), Spain’s GDP exceeds the pre-COVID level by 5.7%, compared to 4.2% in the eurozone, thanks to public consumption, as household spending and investment are “lagging”, as the Bank of Spain points out.However, not everything is bright in the progress of the Spanish economy. On one hand, it has lost competitiveness compared to the eurozone as a whole due…

European economy, In Europe 13th March 2023

Most Eurozone growth in 4Q2022 comes from public spending; data point to slowdown in 1Q23

Santander Corporate & Investment | The final outcome will probably be determined by the economy but, as our economists remind us, the 4Q eurozone GDP data released late last week (0.0% quarter-on-quarter and 1.8% year-on-year, Exp 0.0%/1.9%, Last 0.4%/2.4%) mask weak dynamics. The fact is that most of the growth is coming from public spending while weak domestic demand was dragging down imports and explaining the second (poor) growth driver:…

Spanish economy 7th July 2022

The Airef Says That Revaluing Pensions With The CPI (13.5 Billion Euros) Leaves The Government With No Margin For More Public Spending

Cristina Herrero, president of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (Airef) calculates that pensions will have to be revalued at 9%, which will cost 13.500 billion euros of the 15 billion increase in spending recommended for 2023. This would leave the government with no margin to increase social or defence spending. Herrero warned that “inflation increases revenue in the short term but deteriorates public finances in the medium term because…

Spanish economy 30th May 2022

Spain’s Public Spending Consolidates Above 50% Of GDP, With 14 Consecutive Years Of Deficits

Spain’s public spending breaks records and settles above 50% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The country has thus accumulated two consecutive years – 2020 and 2021 – in which the average disbursement reaches 51.5%, after surpassing all historical spending milestones. However, the revenue figures do not match the expenditure figures and the public deficit is widening. In 2021, with record tax pressure and state revenue, revenue has not managed to…

World economy 23rd March 2017

The Huge Fallacy Of The Modern Monetary Theory: Money Is Not Free

There’s a new monetary theory doing the rounds here which claims to be revolutionary: the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT. Not to be confused with the Market Monetary Theory). I agree with some of its points. But when some of its supporters say the state deficit and debt are not important – that they don’t have damaging consequences – the theory becomes a huge deliberate fallacy.

In Europe 30th May 2014

Spanish GDP: The crystal clear lie

MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | Spanish 1Q GDP was released on Friday. Data were shameful and let me explain you why: in order to reduce the public deficit, the government transfered 2013 4Q public spending to 2014 1Q. So these last numbers are those they had tried to hide under the carpet. In the graph above, the blue and line represent private and public consumption, respectively.