MADRID | Elvira Rodríguez, who chairs the Spanish parliamentary committee on Economy and Competitiveness, and is a former State secretary for Budget and Expenditure, had two words to say about the government’s public budget: rigour and responsibility. Rodríguez published Monday an op-ed in the business daily Cinco Días, probably in advance of the heaviest wave of criticism that the country’s budget plans have had to endure during the last decade. She…
By Jacobo de Regoyos, in Brussels | The idea that Spain is the real sick man of Europe is catching on again. Suddenly, there is less talk of Greece and Italy. Portugal is going through its particular tunnel in silence. And as for Ireland, almost nobody in the financial media seem to remember its problems. Yet, Spain is back, surrounded but Europe’s ringing alarms. Proof of this is the evolution of the risk premium…
MADRID | The Spanish government claims the 2012 budget to be the toughest ever. On face value it embodies a 2.5% GDP deficit reduction, an awesome effort by any standard. Slashing expenditure amounts to two thirds of the squeeze, the rest falling on tax adjustments. Will budgetary crunch depress activity or axe main spending policies? A closer look dispels any anxiety over these daunting effects. Many of the cuts come…
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | Spain’s 2012 budget brings a contraction in public spending of €18 billion and an increase in taxes of €9 billion, both items totaling €27 billion, which would put central government deficit at 3.5%. To reach the pursued 5.3%, the rest of the effort corresponds to the autonomous regional governments, not exactly the most successful part of the public administration in matters regarding austerity. In addition,…
MADRID, LONDON | Emilio Botin will be re-elected on Saturday as board director and president of the Spanish financial group, currently third in the domestic rank after Caixabank and BBVA. But he got today a special gift via London: Banco Santander was named ‘Business Bank of the Year’ in the UK at the annual Business Moneyfacts Awards for its strategy to become the small and medium-sized companies’ bank of choice. It was the…
AFI analysts duly noted on Friday that markets have again focused their irritation on Italy and Spain. Corrections have shown a measure of the punishment investors are willing to inflict on those euro zone member countries seen as the weakest link unless Brussels gets its act together, since domestic solutions will necessarily be patchy. “Spanish and Italian sovereign debts have this week become protagonists, particularly over the short section of…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | The Spanish government will unveil today its budget bill for 2012. In the good old days, analysts and observers bent over its pages to find the clues for public sector priorities in the year. Nowadays you can dispose of such a demanding task. Brussels has unravelled its complexity, reducing the whole exercise to the simplistic aim to meet, no matter how, the deficit…
MADRID | In a note to investors, Morgan Stanley analysts let go a few words from the bright side of their view on some of the euro zone countries that have endured the worst part of an altogether bumpy week. And here at The Corner, we cannot help but spread the love. Experts at Morgan Stanley maintain their estimates for the general GDP of the European Union, which points at…
NEW YORK | US media coverage of Spanish general strike was scarce in the morning, and increased during the day, never making the biggest headline. The online edition of major generalist or business newspaper didn’t include it among their main subjects, or did only briefly. NYT kept it in a low position. WSJ reported on it only on its World section, and the strike wasn’t even the leading headline there….
On March 29 at midday, while those joining the nation-wide protest in Madrid celebrated that a major store like Cortefiel had begun to close its doors, electricity demand recorded an almost imperceptible 1.5pc shorter fall that the 17.5% drop caused by the last general strike seen in the country, back in September. Having it had no discernible impact then, it seems rather logical to assume that this one will not leave any…