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.
T.C. | Next Thursday, 22 April, in Cartagena (Murcia), King Felipe VI will preside over the launch of the S-81 Isaac Peral, the first submarine built by Spain alone (until now the development costs were shared with other countries, with France in the case of the latest submarines), which will be sponsored by his daughter Leonor, Princess of Asturias and heir to the throne.
T.C. | Eduardo Abenojar, president of the Restaurant and Nightlife Association of Salou (a small tourist town 100 km from Barcelona, considered the capital of the Costa Dorada) began a hunger strike yesterday at 12.30 pm to ask the Generalitat to reopen his business because “we have neither help nor hope”.
T.C. | Faced with the impossibility of reaching a sufficient parliamentary agreement (it requires an agreement with the opposition) to renew the members of the General Council of the Judiciary, which has been in office for two years, the coalition government of the PSOE and UP passed a rapid reform that ties the Council’s hands and feet and prevents it from making appointments while it is in office. Thus, it is a Council “in functions” but unable to function.
T.C.| The large Spanish hotel chains are seeking liquidity by selling assets and are opting for the ‘sale & leaseback’ option to maintain management. According to Meliá’s director of real estate, Mark Hoddinott, the group is identifying assets worth between 150 and 200 million. NH, the Spanish chain controlled by the Thai group Minor, is also considering the sale and leaseback of several hotels. According to Moody’s, the group expects to generate more than 200 million in additional cash. RIU, a partner of the German group TUI, has three hotels for sale: in Madeira (Portugal), Lanzarote (Spain) and Panama with a combined valuation of around 250 million euros.
Fernando Rodriguez | Sustainable investment in Spain amounted to 285,454 million euros in 2019, up 36% on the previous year, according to ‘Spainsif 2020 Study: Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Spain’. The study was prepared with the answers to a questionnaire provided by 76% of Spanish investment companies and 43% of international ones operating in Spain. 72.8% of the total figure – €207,571 million- is managed by Spanish companies, up 9% on the previous year.
Economists are getting used to expecting the unexpected. The unprecedented fall in Spain’s GDP—seen during the first half of the year—was followed by one of the highest growth rates ever recorded. In the third quarter of the year, quarterly GDP growth was around 14%. The unusual extent of the growth seen during the recovery is mirrored by the atypical way in which it has taken shape. Growth is expected to return to more ‘normal’ levels in the fourth quarter, i.e. about 2%. While this rate is high in comparison with any quarter in Spain’s recent history, it indicates a sharp slowdown.
Joan Tapia (Barcelona) | The figures of the Spanish economy were terrible in the second quarter. GDP plummeted by an outrageous 18.5% compared to the previous quarter, while the GDP of the euro area, despite suffering the biggest fall since reliable statistics have been available, fell considerably less, by 11.8%. And the loss of jobs in the same period was 7.5% in Spain compared to 2.9% in Europe.
Not everything is falling in Spain. Uncertaint y has triggered a surge in savings and according to data from the Bank of Spain (BdE), Spanish household deposits, which rose by 0.08% in July compared to June, amount to € 892.8 billion, up by 7.13% when compared to the same month in 2019.