MADRID | By David Fernández | Foreign investors are showing a sudden interest in assets made in Spain due to, among others, central bank’s last data, Europe’s decision to delay the deficit commitment by two years and international factors such as second-round monetary helicopter launched by the Bank of Japan. Will this trend vanish?
Spanish government meets the regions to set specific deficit targets
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | On Tuesday afternoon, July 31, the Council for Fiscal and Financial Policy (CPFF by its Spanish initials) will meet the central government in order to establish the deficit target and debt levels of each region in Spain for 2013. It is expected that the regions will adapt themselves to [...]
S&P: California's aggressive austerity won't solve its huge deficit
free advice on getting your ex girlfriend back NEW YORK | California's new fiscal year begins July 1 with a massive problem: a $16 billion hole, the biggest deficit of the 50 states. Without one budget in place, the Golden State would not be able to make certain payments to schools or pay salaries of [...]
BANKIA plight undermines Spain’s credibility
MADRID | Utter disarray might sound a mild and tender description for the knock out effect BANKIA crash landing has inflicted on Spain’s credibility. Only a few days ago, the government downsized the issue to a trifle €7 billion support. The bill runs now at €24 billion, with the prospect to rise still higher. Spending [...]
Spain’s €30-billion privatisation plan to affect AIG, Renfe among others
The Spanish government estimates it may take in up to €30 billion through an “ambitious” privatisation plan which will be passed before summer, reported news agency Europa Press on Monday. This new government plan, which completes the reforms that have already been approved as well as other further measures (the single market, or the entrepreneurship law) [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Comparing pension systems in Spain, Germany: getting closer
MADRID | The reform of the pension system in Spain is planned to help to improve the outlook for sustainability of the system by reducing pension expenditure as a share of GDP. It should weigh in towards reducing the public deficit, too. At BBVA, analysts have drawn some basic comparisons between the Spanish and the [...]
Reagan? He loved his big deficit, too
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | Here’s one more example of how politics constantly enters the economics arena with the firm intention of interfering in some way or another. That was the time in which the US Republican conservatives tried to grill the then Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker when he wanted to cool the [...]
Doomsayers worse than Homer Simpson, Barclays Spain tells foreign brokers
MADRID | Analysts at Barclays in Spain felt so shocked by how little knowledge some market participants can display about the actual situation of the Spanish economy, that decided to act. Why Spain does so poorly compared to the rest of Europe? Well, does it? This is the quick note they wrote on Friday aimed [...]
