Spain Business Brief - Thursday November 19 2009

Spain Business Brief - Thursday November 19 2009
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By h.b. - Nov 19, 2009 - 1:39 PM

EFE

Spain last of the OECD countries to exit recession

The Spanish Minister for Tax and the Economy, Elena Salgado, has said she thinks that next year will be worst than this for unemployment. In other areas of the economy though she says the recovery will start.
But for unemployment she said the numbers will still rise, albeit at a lower rate, but she denied the claim that growth has to reach a 3% rate for employment to be created.
A slight improvement in consumer demand and investment helped reduce the fall in GDP for the third quarter taking it to 0.3%

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has said the recovery is going to be slower in Spain, although the OECD has improved their forecasts on previous ones. Now the OECD says recovery here will not start until 2011.

Meanwhile the unions UGT and CCOO have given businessmen in Spain a margin of between 15 and 30 days to stop blocking contacts on the new wage round for next year. The CEOE employers’ organization and the CEPYME small business association have so far avoided speaking of dates.

With income tax increases and VAT set to rise in Spain in July, there are reports that some of the richest people in the country have started taking their money elsewhere from the SICAV investment plans, fearing further increases. Amancio Ortega, the owner of Inditex company and Zara brand, has, according to El Mundo, taken 200 million out over the past two weeks.

The launch of new convertible bonds from the Sol Meliá hotel chain to try and rise 200 million €, has been welcomed on the markets with a 12% fall in the share price. The offer pays a fixed interest every six months at a rate between 4.25% and 5%.

The National Energy Commission, CNE, has said that electricity prices have to rise by 18% in 2010 for companies to meet their deficit obligations to the Government which has put a limit of 3 billion €.
Meanwhile the Minister for Regional Policy, Manuel Chaves, has announced the Government is to invest 950 million € in the Plan Garoña, the actions being carried out to replace the employment currently offered by the local nuclear plant which is set to close. The plans include a new parador hotel for the district.

General Motors has said it will be presenting a plan for the future of the Opel plant in Figueruelas within a month. The GM President for Europe, Nick Reilly, gave the news. Unions say they will use the now defunct deal with Magna, as a starting point. In the earlier deal the unions accepted 900 job losses, and annual savings of around 25 million €.

The Nueva Rumasa company has said it is interested in purchasing the Bimbo factory in Almansa, Albacete, which is facing closure by the owners Sara Lee. The plant currently employs 120 workers but details of any purchase are not yet known.

And finally,
Consumers’ organisation FACUA has complained that mobile phone operators in Spain keep the money from pre-paid cards when they expire. Movistar collect the money if the card is not recharged in 7 months, Vodafone 10 months and Orange 13 months.
Meanwhile Vodafone has announced it is to remove the download data limit on its mobile services in Spain, but will be charging more for those clients who want faster speeds at peak times. The new top service called ‘Calidad Oro’ costs 49 € a month and offers download speeds between 4 and 10 Gigas. If it is successful in Spain it will be extended to other territories.

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