Spain Business Brief - Thursday March 11 2010

Spain Business Brief - Thursday March 11 2010
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By h.b. - Mar 11, 2010 - 1:39 PM
Unemployment remains the biggest concern of the Spanish people

Unemployment queue - Photo EFE

Unemployment remains the biggest concern of the Spanish people according to the latest CIS survey for February. Economic problems, the political classes and immigration follow and all are above worries about terrorism.
81.8% said they were concerned about unemployment, followed by 47% of those who mentioned the economy.

A new report from AGETT and AFI shows that a million and a half of the unemployed have been without a job for more than a year. They say that if the current tendencies continue, the number will reach two million before the end of the year. The typical profile of the long-term unemployed is male, aged 25-34 and who worked previously in industry or construction.

The European Central Bank has said Spain lacks concrete measures in its plan to reduce the deficit, which has to be down to 3% by 2013 to meet EU requirements. The ECB has said that it sees only scant measures in place for 2011 and 2013.

The President of the Spanish Bank Association, Miguel Martín, has launched an attack on the behaviour of the Caja Savings Banks during the recession. He criticised the time they have taken for restructuring, saying it was causing alarm, and said that they had taken the lions share of the aid made available by the Government. Both Santander and Popular banks have called for the restructuring of the savings banks to be completed as soon as possible.

Moody’s rating agency has threatened to reduce its rating on Spanish banks because of what it sees as delays in restructuring. It says the politicians are the main reason for the delay in the consolidation of savings banks across the country.

Sales of homes in Spain saw a 2.1% increase in January, the first rise since 2008, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute. Sales on new property was down 5.1% compared to the same month in 2009, but a 10.7% jump in resale property sales at 18,807, took the total number of sales over the month this year to 38,263, up 2.1% on 2009.

The CNE National Energy Commission has proposed new measures against abuse in the electricity market. They say there is a need to regulate prices in the wholesale sector to avoid speculation linked to the liberalisation of the sector.

Seat has announced a quadrupling of its losses in Spain for 2009, having lost 339 million € over the year. Profits for parent group Wolkswagen were down 80% over the year, and they say they do not expect to make any profit this year either.

Life insurance premiums could jump in cost by 30% according to experts in the sector because of new EU regulations. The Spanish Federation of Insurers, CEA, say it comes because of new requirements for ‘excessive capital’.

And finally,
Orange has returned 14,000 € paid by a client because his ‘tarifa plana’ for the internet was not valid in Poland. The client had turned to the FACUA consumers’ organisation and the Secretary of State for Telecommunications with his complaint. It was considered that the phone company had ‘confused’ the client with the information given to him.

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