Spain Business
Spain Business Brief - Monday June 23 2008
By h.b. - Jun 23, 2008 - 2:26 PM
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Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has today announced new measures against the economic slowdown, and admitted that growth of the Spanish economy this year will be below 2%. Among the measures is a cut back in the offer for new public sector jobs, and a freeze on wages for top managers in the public sector. The number of new jobs on offer will be 30% down on last year.
Also announced by Zapatero today, more credit for Pymes small businesses and for assisted VPO housing worth 35 billion. There will also be credits for the renovation of tourist buildings worth 2,500 million a year. Airport manager AENA is to be partially privatised.
Mexican investors say they want to reach a 20% shareholding in the Banco Popular in Spain. Blueprime has admitted that it is in advanced talks with several of the banks shareholders. For now, it has already obtained 3.5% of the capital of the Hispania Inversor group for 604 million €.
Latest numbers from the Bank of Spain show that for every 10,000 € fall in the price of housing, the level of consumer spending will fall by 300 € a year. The bank also considers the effect is greater when the family breadwinner is between 35 and 44. The bank says that housing has a ‘considerable impact’ on consumer spending and on the level of economic activity in several sectors. The only way of decreasing that, the bank considers, is by increasing foreign demand.
The number of transport companies in Spain which have decided to close has increased by 37.8% over the first five months of the year, according to a report from AXESOR, which also notes an average fall of 27% in the number of new companies being created. Marine transport in the only area where there has been no increase in closures. On land 212 companies closed down over the first five months of the year.
Inspectors from Brussels have denounced Spain after detecting serious deficiencies in the hygiene of abattoirs and in the labelling of meat and milk products. European Veterinary Inspectors FVO have visited several sites across the country and note that there has been hardly any improvement in hygiene standards since 2006. They also highlight a lack of control in abbatoirs.
And finally,
Experts say we can expect a summer of special sale offers given the poor sales in the high street in Spain in May. Many of the large high street chains are describing the month as the worst ever, and especially in the clothing sector we can expect large reductions from July 1 when the rebajas start.
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