Spain Business Brief - Friday September 5 2008

Spain Business Brief - Friday September 5 2008
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By h.b. - Sep 5, 2008 - 2:09 PM

The Madrid Bolsa - Archive Image EFE

A second day of falls on the stock market with the banks leading the way south.

The banks have led the Spanish stock market south for the second consecutive day today after numbers fell by 3% yesterday.
There is what is considered to be a general weakness in the banking sector after Deutsche Bank revised its predictions for Spanish business downwards. Numbers are also lower following the comments of the Governor of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, who gave no indication that a rate cut may be on the horizon. Instead the ECB forecast a worsening of the situation with more inflation and less growth in the Eurozone this year.

Industrial production in Spain fell by 4.4% in July, which was its third consecutive monthly fall. Despite the fall it does seem as if industrial production has recovered slightly from what it happened in June when the fall was the largest seen for 15 years.

Spanish companies have written a letter to the Financial Times newspaper complaining about their use of an acronym describing Spain and countries in a similar situation as ‘Pigs in Muck’.
The piece read:
Exciting countries get exciting acronyms, at least in financial circles. Fast-growing Brazil, Russia, India and China, for example, are called Brics, the very initials implying solid growth. Other countries are less fortunate. Take Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain, sometimes described as the Pigs. It is a pejorative moniker but one with much truth.
The Association of Communication Managers in Spain (DIRCOM) have written to the paper to voice their disquiet and saying the reference acts against the dignity of Spanish citizens, politicians and companies.

The Ministry for Employment and Immigration has said that the planned reduction in contracting foreign workers abroad will not affect those agricultural temporary workers at harvest time. The statement comes after the measure was harshly criticised by both unions and the opposition in Spain.

The Foundation of Spanish Savings Banks, FUNCAS, is predicting that there will be a negative growth in the Spanish economy next year of 0.5%. They think the slow down will be seen from the next quarter and don’t think that there will be a recovery until 2010.
They consider the unemployment rate, now at 11% of the active population, could reach 16%.

Lagun Air has announced the suspension of its flights from Burgos and Málaga from October 1 and applied to lose 30% of the workforce. The company wants to sell one of its three planes and blames both the regional Junta de Castilla government and the management of León airport for its situation.

And finally,
The Spanish Government says it wants to do away with bad practices from call centres, claiming that many such services are ‘deficient’. There are, they say, many misunderstandings made over billing and other matters and it seems that workers in the call centres are not properly informed about the latest offers. A new letter of users’ rights will be drawn up by the end of the year.
It comes after the Ministry for Industry inspected the services two months ago.

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