Business News & Financial News

Spanish Politics 16th March 2026

PP wins elections in Castilla y León again as PSOE consolidates left-wing vote and halts decline

The PP (People’s Party), with 35% of the vote and 33 seats—two more than it previously held—has won the elections held yesterday in Castilla y León, where two-thirds (65.7%) of the just over two million people called to the polls turned out to vote. Consequently, the acting president and PP candidate—representing a party that has governed the region for 39 years—Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, is the only one with real possibilities…

In Europe 11th March 2026

Germany’s trade surplus grows to €21.2 billion in January (against €17.4 billion previously), while France reduces deficit by remarkable 55.8% to €1.9 billion

Singular Bank | According to Destatis, in January, German goods exports fell by 2.3% compared to the previous month (against an increase of 3.9% in December), standing at €130.5 billion. Meanwhile, imports of goods recorded a notable drop of 5.9% month-on-month (against an increase of 1.3% in December) to a total of €109.2 billion. Given this development, Germany’s trade surplus increased to €21.2 billion (against €17.4 billion in December), exceeding…

In the World 13th March 2026

IEA releases 400 million barrels from reserves: in practice, making up for 20 days’ worth of oil shortages

Bankinter | The International Energy Agency (IEA) is releasing 400 million barrels from its strategic reserves. 32 countries are contributing to this release, although the United States is leading the move with 172 million barrels. It is the largest release since 1970. For reference, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 172 million barrels per day were released. Bankinter analysis team’s view: We view the move positively, although the impact is…

“We need to approach negotiations with the U.S. on terms that are completely different from those currently being proposed”

Says Antonio Bonet, president of the Club of Spanish Exporters and Investors. He points out that “Europe has a single tariff applied by all member states, but the U.S. applies a tariff to each country, meaning it can decide that the tariff applied to Spanish black olives is higher than that for Italian olives, as it did at one point. So there is a part of the negotiation between Europe…

“Fifteen years ago, the European economy was larger than that of the U.S. Today, the U.S. economy is one and a half times that of Europe”

“It is a shame that we are able to mobilize economic resources for large-scale projects abroad, but not in our Spanish market”

In an interview with Consejeros magazine, Sacyr’s coordinating advisor, Elena Jiménez de Andrade, explains that now “We have great capacity to win projects, a capacity that until now contrasted with a series of financial limitations and balance sheet size. However, in this strategic cycle, we are going to eliminate those barriers. That is why we have set an ambitious goal for 2033: to triple the value of our assets. We…

…in the last week