Spain Business Brief - Wednesday June 18 2008

Spain Business Brief - Wednesday June 18 2008
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By h.b. - Jun 18, 2008 - 12:41 PM

The Bank of Spain - Archive Photo EFE

Bad debt in Spain reaches levels not seen for eight years.

The level of bad debts in Spain is now at its highest level for eight years, according to the new numbers for April just released. The amount of bad debt has jumped to 1.302% in what is the tenth consecutive monthly increase and which puts the amount at levels last seen in March 2000.
The number is for individual and company debt in normal banks and the level is even higher at 1.468% in Spanish savings banks.
Despite the numbers most of the financial institutions have launched messages of calm today.

The first meeting between the Government, Unions and the Employers organisation since the General Election is taking place today with the hope that there will be a new climate of dialogue which was not seen during the last legislature.
The meeting will be overshadowed by the economic crisis and its ever-increasing effect on employment.
Prime Minister Zapatero has made it clear that he wants to sign some kind of joint document with the unions and the employers, while the employers CEOE are reported to have arrived at the meeting with their own ideas already on how to fight the slow down. Union CCOO has also criticised the government’s preparation for the meeting.

The President of the Spanish Banking Association, the AEB, Miguel Martín, has said he cannot rule out that there will be negative growth for the Spanish economy in some quarter of the year. Speaking at an Menéndez Palayo University organised course, he also called on the Government to better explain the current economic situation to the Spanish people. He also agreed with the Minister for Industry, Miguel Sebastian, who said recently that the quicker the slowdown, the faster would be the recovery.

With calls for moderation in wage rises coming from the Government, Spanish civil servants have announced new demonstrations in order for higher wages. Demonstrations are being planned by the CCOO, UGT and CSIF unions who say increases need to be seen in 2009 as purchasing power is being lost. Demonstrations are planned to start from June 26.

The Spanish Government has taken its first steps to legally control gaming on the Internet. Talks have started between central government and the regions on how to improve security and to control the online casinos and betting shops which have appeared, and how to do so inline with European guidelines.
One of the measures under consideration is a list of those who have addiction problems to gambling, so that they will not be able to be tempted online.

Not all gloom in April with the business registered by the service sector up 7.7% compared to the same month a year ago, although employment numbers were only up 1%.
Most growth was seen in the transport sector, up 10.2%, followed by business services, trade and information technology.

And finally,
Spain has the dubious honour of leading the falls in European Construction levels according to new numbers from Eurostat. They say that activity here fell by 21.8% in April compared to the same month a year ago, and that the slowdown is gathering pace.

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