MADRID | As reported by the daily newspaper Expansión in Tuesday’s edition, the reactivation of the property tax will be added to the increase of the personal income tax in Catalonia and in the autonomous region of Asturias creating a joint effect of more than 60%. Experts warn that these regions are susceptible to relocation and capital flight. The increase in personal income tax has placed Spain among the countries…
WASHINGTON | What a coincidence. In an election year with a Democratic incumbent, Republican think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) releases (on January 6) an analysis headlined “Why the real U.S. unemployment is 15.6%.” The number is right… although if we count the unemployed plus the discouraged workers, those who have abandoned the job search because they know there are no jobs to search for, plus the part-time workers who…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | It is only fair that banks being nationalised to save them from sheer collapse should follow a much restrictive pay policy on top executives and members of the board. After all, a huge amount of taxpayer money has been spent to fill the gaps derived from irresponsible management. The odd thing is that most culprits have already left the entities with their pockets…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Most Spanish financial analysts agree in their perception of Santander and BBVA as being favoured by the financial reform presented on Thursday by the minister of Economy Luis De Guindos. As a matter of fact, their quotes are gaining value. The reform has been received favourably, although some analysts are still cautious. On the one hand, Sabadell’s point out that “demand has increased, but…
MADRID | Since December, the Spanish Treasury has had a series of successive successes in its debt offers, even exceeding their expectations in many of them. On Thursday, it happened again. The agency under the ministry of Economy and Competitiveness placed €4,560 million in bonds, the maximum planned, at more moderate rates than on the previous occasion according to data released by the Bank of Spain. Specifically, the Treasury placed…
By Luis Garicano, in London | NADA ES GRATIS (fedeablogs.net). A very brief and worrying observation that the media does not seem to have noticed: the IMF forecast of which the press this week has been constantly talking about and that predicts a decrease in the Spanish GDP of 1.7% does not include an additional fiscal adjustment due to the deviation of the 2011 deficit. That is to say, if the deficit…
[UPDATE] By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Spain | The Spanish government will disclose on Friday its plans for a massive clean-up in mortgage-backed bad loans from banking balance sheets. This move is indeed highly welcome so long this overhaul doesn’t push too far eating all resources at hand. Once a €50 billion adjustment has been announced, markets will only settle for a substantially higher figure. In many cases, meeting such…
Acciona, Repsol, Iberdrola and Inditex are the only Spanish companies listed in the ranking of the 100 most sustainable companies in the world –’Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World 2012 ‘– that was presented during the celebration of the Davos World Economic Forum and developed by the magazine ‘Corporate Knights’. Acciona is the first Spanish company to appear in the ranking, where it stands at place 37, it is followed…
By Fernando Barciela, in Madrid | A small €24 million-turnover metal stamping company has become a €1.5 billion-turnover international corporation in 15 years. Its chairman Anton Pradera says that changing a company’s model isn’t difficult. Indeed. CIE Automotive sells 90% of its production outside Spain. Does this protect you from our domestic crisis? [Our emphasis.] That’s right. We are really happy now that we started our internationalisation at the very beginning of…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | The Spanish Government has just approved a bill enshrining the budget golden rule by 2020. It aims to balance income and expenditure over the cycle, departing from that principle only in exceptional circumstances like a full-fledged recession. Such far away objective seems less than ambitious. Especially taking into account the loose path established to ensure that goal. Reducing debt by 2% only if…