Spain Business Brief - Wednesday July 1 2009

Spain Business Brief - Wednesday July 1 2009
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By h.b. - Jul 1, 2009 - 12:55 PM
Unemployment falls in Spain for the second month running

Archive Photo EFE

Following a first fall of 24,700 in May, unemployment in Spain also fell in June by some 32,000 people according to the Colpisa press agency which has released numbers ahead of the official data which will be made public tomorrow. Speaking on Tuesday the General Secretary for Employment, Maravillas Rojo, said that the Government was confident that unemployment would fall again in June.

Latest numbers show that family savings have doubled in Spain over the past year, with the rate now at 7.9% of disposable income for the first quarter of the year. The number is 4.8 points higher than a year ago. The National Statistics Institute has said the number is down to the fall in consumer spending of 3.6% over the period.

Car sales to individuals in Spain were up 14.5% in June thanks to the Government help for the sector. The turnaround comes after 31 months of consecutive falls, according to Anfac, the dealers association. They say the help from the Plan 2000E and from most of the regions has brought the improvement with an additional demand estimated at 15,000 cars. They calculate the industry has benefitted by about 30 million €. The Government’s plan has a budget of 100 million €, enough for some 200,000 sales.

The Summer Sales start officially today with record discounts on offer but even so, an expected average spend per person which will be the lowest for a decade. 100,000 Spanish shops in the fashion and homes sectors hope they will bring in some 4 billion € this year, while small shopkeepers are expecting to take 10% less than last year.

The President of the Catalan Government, José Montilla, has met with the savings banks in the region to try to move forward their merger as part of the restructuring of the financial sector in Spain. The Caixa Catalunya, Tarragona y Girona, Sabadell, Terrassa and Manileu were all present.

The new cheaper call and SMS text limit for EU residents who roam to other countries in Europe come into force today. When we travel to another EU country we will be charged no more than 11 cents per message, compared to the previous EU average of 29 cents.
Calls made from other countries can now cost no more than 43 cents per minute to make or 19 cents per minute to receive, plus VAT. Under the EU rules the prices are set to fall again over the next two years.

The amount of money being sent home by immigrant workers in Spain has fallen by 17% because of the recession.
Figures for the first quarter from the Bank of Spain show that immigrants sent 1.654 billion out of the country over the quarter, 17.2% down on last year at the same time, and 10% down on the last quarter of 2008.

And finally,
As 120km long traffic queues were seen today on the roads out of Madrid at the start of the July getaway, the drivers are meeting petrol prices up some 12% over the past few weeks. It seems to happen at this time every year, but the fall in crude prices over the year shows that petrol is 11% lower, and diesel 25% cheaper than a year ago.

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