By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Perhaps the British households in economic troubles because of the crisis and the unemployment impact are mildly familiar with the words eviction or lieu of payment, but more than 150.000 Spanish families have already been evicted and another 330.000 are in the same process. They are destitute families, with all their members unemployed and no additional income, who cannot face up paying their mortgage. On…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | You don’t usually pick up the most suitable moment to undertake a widespread reshuffle of ill-functioning markets. Stiff political and social resistance leads to abandon any plan or hope to do it. As shelving problems don’t settle them, reforms are only accepted under the pressing need to redress a desperate situation. As a result, measures tend to inflict more damage and reap fewer…
MADRID | Spain reached for the first time a surplus in its trade balance with the euro zone in 2011. Exports to the European Economic and Monetary Union grew 9.6%, almost three points more than imports. The weakness of the domestic demand explains the attainment of such a historic achievement, explained the business daily Cinco Días. Four long years of economic crisis have some positive aspects. According to data released…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Spain’s government is about to attack another of the ills afflicting the country’s economy: the debt that regional governments and municipalities owe to their service providers. The minister of Finance Cristóbal Montoro announced Tuesday that the cabinet will finalise a macro financial operation to cancel this debt, which has reached the €35bn level and has been suffocating Spanish SMEs’ liquidity for years (SMEs’ weight…
The letter that the heads of government of twelve EU countries, including Spain’s Mariano Rajoy, sent to Brussels presented an eight point programme to promote economic growth in the European Union. It was addressed to the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and that of the Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, yet was not signed by either Germany or France, the two main economies of the euro zone…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | The Spanish Treasury keeps reducing the yield of its public auctions and demand keeps increasing: 5.9 times the offer (almost €15bn). Just a few hours after Europe has given the green light to Greece’s rescue package, the Spanish Treasury has sold €2,5bn –the maximum expected, at 3 and 6 months bills, and thus, it has reached the high end of the target range. Specifically, it…
By Enrique Quemada Clariana, in Madrid | As we are M&A advisors, last week a German investment fund visited us in Madrid with the intention of giving us a mandate to search for Spanish industrial companies on sale. They think there are great opportunities in Spain. Their belief is that there will be an ‘inverse delocalization’, which means that, given the crisis that has taken place in the last five years and…
By Joan Tàpia | At the end of 2011 and after taking office, Mariano Rajoy’s government made its first decision: a €15 billion budget adjustment which implied that increasing taxes, especially personal income taxes, was essential –something he said he would never do. During the election campaign, the PP also assured that it would not lower the cost of dismissal. Now, the law-decree of February 11 does precisely this and takes…
By Fernando Gonzalez Urbaneja, in Madrid | Three decrees for the reform, restructuring and rescue of the Spanish financial system have passed and some voices at the Bank of Spain point out there might yet be a fourth one, if needed. Three plans for a sector which boasted of being the best in the world, and neither of all three have exactly been effective in restoring the credit market. The Socialists…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | Year after year, electricity prices have been reined back below recognised costs, building up a deficit running now at €24 billion. This huge hole turned into a right to be paid back in future has suddenly been put in jeopardy. No wonder power companies are talking about daylight robbery. Are they justified in venting their anger on government? One can understand the…