Spain

Spanish economy 18th May 2012

Bureaucracy, taxes and regulation keep Spanish companies too small

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | The average size of Spanish firms is smaller than that of other countries with a similar degree of development. According to the Central Company Directory, at 1 January 2011, out of the total 3.25 million firms in Spain, 99.9% were small and medium-sized enterprises; that is, they employed fewer than 250 salaried workers. Micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 salaried employees accounted for 95.2%…

Spanish economy 18th May 2012

If you sow doubts you are bound to harvest uncertainty

MADRID | The Spanish financial system badly needs to get equipped with a survival kit. Not only has it been left stranded in a highly hostile territory. Its guide and guardian may have developed a rare taste for inflicting damage on it. There can be no other plausible clue to explain the Economy minister’s statement at the outcome of the last Ecofin meeting. He flatly acknowledged there were good reasons to…

Markets 17th May 2012

Thursday’s charts: dumb bets

Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | Greece was in free fall mode when at the European Central Bank they had the funny idea of pushing the country …downwards. The ECB said it had frozen all operations with Greek banks, which already are suffering a killing capital drain: “Central bank head George Provopoulos told Papoulias that Greeks have withdrawn as much as €700 million ($891 million) and the situation could worsen, according to the transcript…

Interviews 16th May 2012

Spain’s recovery is on its way, Telefónica’s chairman assures investors

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Telefónica’s president César Alierta devoted his speech during the company’s general shareholder meeting to claim that markets are not considering the company’s growth potential, as well as to defend that Spain is “a very solvent country.” According to the data gathered by Link analysts, Alierta stressed Telefónica’s high dividend yield, which at current prices will be of 13,3% in 2012. In Alerta’s opinion, it…

Spanish economy 16th May 2012

What is the European Central Bank waiting for?

MADRID | Risk premium is attaining no-return levels. But this time any prospect of bailing out either Spain or Italy seems utterly out of reach. The EU rescue fund simply lacks enough muscle. Its depleted coffers are unable to provide any sustainable respite to the on-going crisis. Even if it had the money, it is highly questionable it would thwart the current wild burst of uncertainty now raging on uncontrollably across…

World economy 16th May 2012

California Gov turns to European austerity

NEW YORK | “Cutting alone really doesn’t do it, and that’s why I’m linking the serious budget reductions — real increase to austerity — with a plea to the voters: please increase taxes temporarily on the most affluent and everyone else with a quarter of a cent sales tax,” California governor Jerry Brown said in releasing his $91 billion general fund budget plan this week. These are not easy days for…

Spanish economy 16th May 2012

Spain’s small companies receive €400-million European credit line

The European Investment Bank opened credit lines in support of small and medium-sized companies in Spain with two €200 loans to Banesto and Banco Popular. The EIB loan granted to Banesto is its first with the Spanish entity under the Bank’s new SME credit strategy and it will facilitate access to finance in the current economic crisis. In both cases, the capital line will carry favourable maturity and interest rate terms, which…

In Europe 16th May 2012

Wednesday’s chart: the euro zone holds its GDP, Germany willing

It was Germany, with a 0.5 percent growth of GDP in the first quarter of this year, that helped the euro zone avoid enter technical recession territory. GDP remained stable in both the euro are and the EU during January to March of 2012 compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Compared with the same quarter of the previous…

Interviews 16th May 2012

François Hollande is a loser

After the news came in of French president François Hollande’s brief encounter with the ever irresistible forces of nature, I began to consider in all seriousness what my mother said about the just sworn-in European leader: “poor thing,” she had muttered during our daily London-Valencia FaceTime conference, which is motherly talk for the more common ‘that guy’s a loser’ remark. Indeed, he was struck by lightning twice in just hours. Here’s the…

Spanish economy 15th May 2012

Deterioration in Spanish real economy softer than forecast

MADRID | BBVA Research’s latest estimates confirmed the recession in Spain, pointing to a GDP contraction of 1.3% in 2012. However, economic indicators are revealing a less dramatic than estimated deterioration in the real economy. The data presented in its ‘Spain Economic Outlook’ report show that the measures adopted lend credibility to the ability to meet current fiscal deficit targets. BBVA’s economic research department flagged the positive effect of the programme set…

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