Spain Business Brief - Friday November 7 2008

Spain Business Brief - Friday November 7 2008
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By h.b. - Nov 7, 2008 - 12:43 PM

Archive Photo EFE

Cut in mortgage payment rates planned for new year.

The latest half point cut in interest rates by the European Central Bank announced yesterday, has led to a reduction in the Euribor mortgage rate, down to 4.59%. It’s not been down at that level since March. Experts consider that the rate will continue to fall and that mortgage holders will only start to benefit in the first quarter of next year.

France is expected to announce later today that they are giving their seat at the November 15 Washington summit on the economy to Spain. Sarkozy can do that as he is also invited as the current President of E.U. The EU countries are meeting today to try and present a common approach at the United States summit.

The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the Spanish economy will shrink by 0.7% next year. The IMF says that the developed countries will see their first annual contraction since 1945.

The merger plans between British Airways and Iberia air under threat following the new results from B.A.
The world’s favourite airline announced a loss of 51 million € compared to a profit of 612 million € for the same period, the first six months of last year.
The airline is justifying the loss with the end of industrial subsidies which has meant a cost to the airline of 97 million €. However passenger numbers were down 3.9% to 17.158 million.
Despite the numbers shares in both BA and Iberia have rallied on the markets today.

Nissan has confirmed that it wants to sack 1,680 workers from its factory in Barcelona. A meeting between the company and the regional government has ended without agreement.

Telefónica has been fined the Telecommunications Market Commission CMT for placing obstacles to Orange. The fine of 20 million € is for blocking the rental of its lines to Orange, and comes following a complaint placed by the French company in December last year.
Meanwhile the number of new broadband lines in Spain contracted in September was down 27.3% on the same month last year. There are now a total of 8.79 million broadband lines – a penetration of 19.5 lines per 100 inhabitants. 71% of the broadband lines are from Telefónica.

The Ministry for Work and Immigration is to increase the number of work inspectors working across Spain from 2,000 to 3,000 over the next four years. The number was given by the Sub-secretary at the Ministry, Leandro González Gallardo, who was speaking in Burgos.

A court in Málaga has recognised that Granada based constructor and promoter, José Ávila Rojas, is bankrupt. The case was heard in Málaga as the company has its official residence in Marbella. The decision means that current judicial embargoes against the constructor are now halted, and it will be an administrator who will decide who is paid off from the assets, how and in which order.

And finally,
A new ranking in The Times newspaper has named Emilio Botín, the President of Santander, as one of the winners in the economic crisis. Also named in the Top Ten report are Marx and Ronald McDonald; Marx as sales of his book ‘De Capital’ have increased by 300% since the crisis began, and Ronald McDonald as burger sales are up.

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