Spain Business Brief - Friday June 12 2009
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By h.b. - Jun 12, 2009 - 1:16 PM
Strike action called in the metal industry from Monday

The metal industry is facing strike action after businessmen and unions have failed to reach any agreement after more than 30 hours of talks in Pontevedra. Now an indefinite strike is called in the sector from Monday.
Management has claimed that the workers had forced them into ‘a street with no exit’, with the President of the Galician Metal Industry companies, ASIME, José María Hidalgo, warning that ‘thousands of companies are going to go bust’ because of already high costs.

The Government’s new 2000E plan has managed to help new car sales recover in its first month of operation.
Indications are that more new cars will be registered this month than in June last year, after 10,395 were sold in the first week of June this year. If the turnaround is confirmed it will be the first increase seen in the statistic for 17 months.

Latest reports indicate that Magna, the Canadian company which has purchased Opel’s operations in Europe, has concluded that job losses will be needed at the plant in Figueruelas, Zaragoza. A statement from the company says that they will ‘start from zero in all their European plants’ although they also say that they value ‘the workers who, with their efforts, have managed to always meet deadlines and objectives’. The Zaragoza plant is considered to be among the most productive.

Nearly half of the new homes which remain unsold in Spain are along the Mediterranean coast according to a new report presented by the Ministry for Housing. The data shows 45.7% of the 613,512 unsold new homes are along the coast, and 70% of the total being considered as first residences.
There are now 13.3 unsold properties per 1,000 inhabitants in Spain with the leading provinces for unsold being Barcelona, Madrid, Alicante, Valencia, Murcia and Málaga.

The Friday cabinet meeting will today approve a spending limit on non-financial items for the State for next year, as forecasts concur that the crisis will continue. In effect it marks the start of the elaboration of the State Budget for next year. In 2009 the limit was 160.158 billion €, 5% higher than the year before.

Petrol and diesel prices continue to rise in Spain and now cost 24 and 8% more than at the start of the year. A litre of petrol has cost more than a € for the past three weeks and has increased another 2% this week to 1 €, 025 cents, while diesel now costs 3.6% more than a week ago to take it back over the 90 cents mark.

The Government is to change 47 laws to try and increase competition in the service sector in Spain. The changes are being approved in cabinet today and intend to reduce bureaucratic costs and liberalise several activities. The cabinet hopes that 200,000 jobs will be created by the changes with the so-called Ley Omnibus. From now many professionals will no longer have to inscribe on an official registry to carry out their profession.

A fall in traffic and extra costs has been acting against motorway toll companies. The problem has reached a degree where the Government has accepted that it will help the companies running the ring roads around Madrid to help them meet their costs. Income at toll booths across the country for the first quarter was down an average 15% compared to last year.

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