Business News & Financial News

In Spain 13th February 2026

Spain: poverty and exclusion rates stagnate at 26%, diverging from macroeconomic growth

Aurelio Medel | The 2025 Living Conditions Survey, recently published by the INE (National Statistics Institute), clearly demonstrates how the improvement in macroeconomics is failing to reflect in the lives of families. The Government rightfully boasts that Spain is the fastest-growing economy in the EU (2.9%), with more people employed than ever (22.5 million), an unemployment rate below 10%, and a minimum wage that has risen by 61% (2018–2025). However,…

In Europe 5th February 2026

Factory orders in Germany see two consecutive increases: up 13.0% year-on-year in December against 10.6% previously

Bankinter | Factory orders in Germany surprise upwards for the second consecutive month in December: 13.0% year-on-year against an expected 1.2% and a previous 10.6% (revised from 10.5%). In month-on-month terms, 7.8% against a drop of 2.2% and 5.7% (revised from 5.6%). The improvement is again explained by growth in orders for metallurgical products (30.2% month-on-month against 25.3% previously) and capital goods (11.5%). Capital goods were up 10.5% against 7.9%….

“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…

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