According to El Periódico, “the excessive expectations that had been created about a rapid arrival of European money to the Spanish economy are colliding with bureaucracy and the lack of communication between administrations and companies”. The Ministry of Finance claims that 60.9% of the funds planned for this year have already been authorised – through the Council of Ministers and the different sectoral conferences – and that 25.5% of the…
Pablo Pardo (Washington) | In September, the slowdown has, unexpectedly, arrived in the US. The main culprit is the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which is once again claiming 1,500 lives daily and threatens to cause a ‘W’ revival. Until just a month ago, the biggest question regarding the US economy was whether its growth would beat China’s for two years in a row. The last time US GDP growth…
JP Marín-Arrese | The Spanish PM Sánchez seeks to regain his dwindling popular support after the crushing defeat in Madrid’s regional elections back in May. At mid-term, he discovered, much to his surprise, the cost of enforcing long-lasting restrictions to overcome the pandemic. The Opposition took advantage of the people’s weariness and fear of lay-offs. His initial steps to stage a large-scale inclusive revolution either faded away or didn’t pay…
CaixaBank Research | Over the coming months, the pandemic will continue to be the major determining factor for the outlook. The immunisation of age groups over 50, which represent 90% of all hospitalisations, is expected to be completed within the next few weeks. With the emergence of new and potentially more contagious strains – such as the Delta variant – rapid progress in the vaccination roll-out will be vital in alleviating pressure on the health system while achieving a sustained revival in economic activity.
This week, the recovery plan was presented in Parliament, to which, over the next three years, nearly €50,000 million will be allocated. Among the investments of the ten main projects presented, more than €13.2 billion will be earmarked for sustainable mobility and electric cars, making the automotive sector the target of this first strategic plan for economic recovery and transformation (PERTE). This plan will be aimed at encouraging the installation of recharging points (deploying at least 80,000 to 110,000 new recharging points) and the purchase of electric vehicles (reaching 250,000 electric vehicles by 2023 to achieve the target of 5 million electric vehicles by 2023).
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 construction sector aims to take in workers who are currently on temporary lay-offs and who work in the tourism or hotel and catering sectors in order for them to be trained in the new techniques that are already being used in construction. In contrast to the evolution of these two sectors, still heavily affected by the pandemic and with companies in difficulties that could lead these workers to permanent unemployment, the construction sector has already recovered all the employment lost since the outbreak of the health crisis and even surpassed it.
Pep Ruiz (BBVA Research) | The US economy’s stimulus plan, with a fiscal stimulus that can exceed 12 pp of US GDP, which could increase Spain’s GDP by 0.2 pp and 0.9 pp this year and next year respectively.
Lidia Conde (Francfort) | Christoph Schmidt, chairman of the Franco-German economic think tank for the past year – when he stepped down as chairman of the council of wise men advising the Berlin government – makes no secret of his concerns: “Both the European Green Deal and the Next Generation EU nourish the hope that Europe will emerge stronger from this crisis in the end. But between the EU’s ambitious plans and the final success, the final results, there is a long way to go. And on that road, member states will have to undertake the structural reforms that will increase their long-term growth potential and show their readiness to return to compliance with the stability and growth pact, with the debt rules”.
President Biden is set to announce his plan for additional fiscal stimulus today. Previous reports suggest that the new US stimulus package to be proposed by President Joe Biden calls for $3 trillion in new spending, although reports in the Washington Post raise the figure in Biden’s proposal to $4 trillion, which would be funded by tax increases of $3 trillion, up from the $1 trillion initially estimated.