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Spain Business Brief - Thursday June 26 2008
By h.b. - Jun 26, 2008 - 2:31 PM
ALSO SEE : • Spain Business Brief - Friday September 5 2008 - Sep 5, 2008 - 2:09 PM
• Spain Business Brief - Thursday September 4 2008 - Sep 4, 2008 - 12:58 PM

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Euribor goes up again to highest ever rate.
The Euribor interest rate, used to fix the mortgage rates paid by most borrowers in Spain, will end June at its highest level since the index was created in 2000, at 5.36%. The jump in price means a 76 € increase in the monthly payment on the average mortgage.
It comes hot on the news that the number of people expected to default on their mortgage this year is set to double, and reach 2% of the total.

The year on year figure for April house sale transactions shows a 12% increase in new property, but a fall in resale accommodation of 20%. A total of 55,802 properties changed hands in April in Spain according to the numbers from the National Statistics Institute (INE). The numbers are probably distorted by Easter, which was seen in April last year and March this. Most per-capital sales were in Murcia and the Valencia region.
Meanwhile the number of newly mortgaged homes in Spain fell in April by 9.4% to 86,549. It was the third consecutive monthly fall.

Meanwhile the number of new homes which started construction across the country in the first quarter of this year was 36% down on last year, a further indication of the crisis affecting the construction industry.
The Minister for Employment, Celestino Corbacho, has meanwhile revealed that the plan to reduce unemployment among construction workers will have a budget of 210 million € and is intended to become a permanent measure. The scheme will be concentrated on the regions of Andalucía, Cataluña and Valencia.

Despite being rejected by the Senate, the Congress of Deputies has definitively approved the limit on non-financial spending by the State for next year. The measure was passed with just the PSOE votes in favour and with the abstentions of CiU and PNV. The other groups think the cabinet has presented unreal provisions, while Pedro Solbes, the Minister for Tax and the Economy, has defended the limit on spending as ‘adequate, as it allows the automatic stabilising systems to come into effect in the possible scenario of a worsening of the economy’.

Renewable energy company, Iberdrola Renovables, is to invest 18.8 billion in a new strategic plan for the next five years. The company held its first shareholders meeting today since its launch on the stock market. Most of the investment is to go on its international expansion.

Spanish fishermen are meeting with the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Elena Espinosa this evening from 5,30pm and will then decide whether to continue with their strike action or not. The Spanish fishing confederation, CEPESCA, wants to obtain economic help which will allow for the negotiation of other structural measures in the medium and long term.

The Commercial Deficit in Spain, the difference between imports and exports, jumped to 34.9 billion € over the first four months of the year, up 16.3%, according to data from the Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Trade. The increase is due in large part to the increased cost of petrol and energy products as exports reached 65.4 billion € and imports reached 100.3 billion €.
The data comes following the news that the current account surplus has fallen by 80% between January and May.


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ALSO SEE :
• Spain Business Brief - Friday September 5 2008 - Sep 5, 2008 - 2:09 PM
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