Spain Business
Spain Business Brief - Tuesday April 15 2008
By h.b.
Apr 15, 2008 - 3:05 PM

Shares in Repsol YPF have rallied in Madrid today after the announcement of a new large find of petrol in Brazil. The find could be as large as the third greatest in the world at 33 billion barrels, and investors have welcomed the news with great enthusiasm. The site is in Cuenca de Santos, operated by Petrobrás (45%), British Gas (30%) and Repsol YPF (25%), and its potential is currently being studied. Shares were up as much as 13.6% at one time today, and it comes as the cost of a barrel of Brent reached 111 dollars.

The Governor of the Bank of Spain, Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, has said that the Spanish banking system is a solid one, but has also warned of three risks today – Lack of liquidity, loans to real estate developers, and the increase in bad debts. He said therefore that the system here is not immune to the effects of the worldwide crisis. Once again he has criticised the planned increase in the minimum wage describing wage increases as a whole as ‘unfortunate and inadequate’. He made the comments at the XV meeting of the Spanish Financial Sector.
He also said that the Bank of Spain is concerned about the increase of bad debts being seen in mortgages.
It comes as the Euribor continued its rise again. The rate used for the setting of most mortgages in Spain is now at 4.7%.

A new study by the Caixa Catalunya savings bank has said that basic products in Spain have increased in price by 7.5% in the past 12 months. Their study says that the largest price rises was seen in the Canaries, up 8.9%, followed by Castilla-La Mancha and Cantabria, up 8%. Increases were lowest in Madrid, up 7%.

Meanwhile another savings bank, Caja Madrid has announced an 8% increase in profits to March at 353 million €. The bad debt index rose over the past 12 months however from 0.7% to 1.36% now.

New numbers show that Internet users in Spain are ever more likely to change company. New offers for ADSL connections have shown that the number of people to chance supplier has increased by 50% over the past year. What was a common sight in mobile phones, is now spreading to land lines and ADSL connections.

Finally,
The closure of a footwear factory in Elche has left 100 workers on the street. The El Dantés company has said it has been forced to close because of the international crisis and the ‘bad moment’ for the industry.