Business News & Financial News

Spanish economy 18th September 2026

Spanish public debt grows at 3.8%, faster than GDP, but runaway inflation reduces it to 99.9% of GDP

According to data from the Bank of Spain (BdE), public administration debt stood at 99.9% of GDP in July, 2.4 percentage points lower than a year earlier, dropping below 100% for the first time since February 2020. In absolute terms, the debt balance rose to EUR 1.744 trillion, a 3.8% increase year-on-year, although it decreased from the EUR 1.763 trillion reached in June. By level of government, central government (State)…

European economy 11th September 2026

ECB raises rates by 0.25 to 2.5%: Prices rise, and so does the cost of money

Julian Marx (Flossbach von Storch) | Strength lies in calm, and this applies to monetary policy as well. As a rule, the European Central Bank (ECB) avoids generating unnecessary suspense before potential changes in interest rates. This occasion was no different: Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel virtually previewed the rate decision when speaking to the French newspaper Le Monde in early September: “Inflation is currently very far from our medium-term target…

World economy 17th September 2026

Fed raises interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.

Francisco Uría (Spanish Institute of Analysts).At the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting held on September 15–16, 2026, it was decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%–4.00%. The decision was adopted unanimously, with a vote of 12 in favor and zero against. This marks the Federal Reserve’s first rate hike since July 2023, and the first decided since…

rosa garcia consejera caixabank acerinox ence

“Many companies complicate CSRD implementation more than necessary”

Rosa Mª García Piñeiro, board member at Caixabank, Acerinox, and Ence—serving as chair of the sustainability committee for the latter two and as a committee member at Caixabank—explains that “the directive does not set the materiality threshold. The company decides it based on its own criteria. There is nothing in the legislation that prescribes what is material and what is not. The auditor-verifier may have one opinion, the company may…

“We are one of Europe’s leading R&D investors: €1.45 billion last year”

“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…

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