Spain Business Brief - Monday May 4 2009

Spain Business Brief - Monday May 4 2009
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By h.b. - May 4, 2009 - 12:50 PM
Time to pay your income tax in Spain

Hacienda offices in Córdoba - EFE

The declaration period for income tax in Spain opens today and continues until June 30. Hacienda expects to return 12.65 billion across some 15.2 million tax payers, and says 85% of the rebates will be sent before the start of August. The authorities will handle more than 19 million declarations this year, 1.6% more than last.

The latest prediction from the European Commission has forecast unemployment in Spain of 20.5% next year. They say the economy will shrink by 3.2% this year, and the public deficit will continue to increase to reach 8.6% of G.D.P.
Despite the poor numbers they do think things will improve by next year when they forecasts a 1% reduction in the economy, although they consider the recovery will be slower in Spain because of the falls in the housing sector and consumer spending.

Ryanair is now the second biggest airline for passenger numbers in Spain, and the Irish low-cost says it will overtake Iberia in two or three years.
The figures come from AENA, the Spanish Airports Authority and show that Ryanair’s progress has come at the expense of Spaniar and Air Europa. The change has been seen in the winter season, with flights from October, where airlines have reduced capacity and services, but Ryanair has weathered the storm better. For last year as a whole passenger numbers in Spain were
Iberia – 33.5 million travellers
Spanair – 18 million
Air Europa – 15.6 million
Ryanair in fourth place 14.8 million

The Minister for Employment and Immigration, Celestino Corbacho, has asked for ‘judicial reports’ ahead of his wish to help unemployed Romanians in Spain to return home. The Minister wants to know whether any financial incentive can be made to help those non-communitarian workers.

Car sales in April fell in Spain by 45.6%, the largest fall ever seen in an April year on year. The number of car and four wheel drive sales over the month were 67,200. Sales fell in all areas of the country with Navarra coming out the best with a fall of just 7.5% compared to last year.

Numbers indicate that credit is finally starting to flow to families in Spain again. March saw homes being granted 7 billion € for the purchase of property, and it shows that the savings banks are giving more loans than bank, albeit at a higher rate. The credit amount number has reached the level seen last July.

Russia has issued an import prohibition order against Spanish pork meat for fear of swine flu. The Russians have also issued bans against meat against from South Carolina and several provinces of Canada.

And finally,
The founder of the Barceló Group, Sebastián Barceló, has died. The honorary president of the group died in the early hours of Sunday and the funeral will be held today in the Santa Eulalia church in Palma. His career started when he was just 12, when he started to help his father who had a small passenger and transport company, which was the start of the group of companies, based around tourism and hotels, the first one of which opened in Mallorca in 1966.
The Barceló Foundation was also established as a non-profit making organisation dedicated to research, social attention and cultural expansion.

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